“Actually” is carrying the kerosene and the match

I’m a 45 year old software engineer. I, too, did sprints this summer.

He’s just saying that instead of essentially only playing more basketball to stay in shape he did pure conditioning work and played less ball

Luka has played in international tournaments every summer for the last decade…so idk if that just doesnt count as running.

I would have to hear that did he say actually or ACtually, the first one being just a word, and the latter being the burn.

right? shouldn’t they be constantly working out in some way/shape or form?

It’s really not. If you reading comprehension was meta these days people would understand that he’s saying he did straight conditioning this summer instead of playing international ball. People act like he wasn’t doing shit in the summer

He actually ran this summer!!! Amazing!!!!

Impressed coz usually being fat & unfit he puts on unbelievable numbers. Wonder where his game will take him with that improved fitness

The guy worked his butt off all summer on staying in shape and actually ran this summer,” Redick said. “He actually did sprints and stuff and came into camp in fantastic shape.

The “actually” part is the most interesting.

The fawning articles about Luka getting in shape last summer all said that he ran sprints. Sounds like that wasn’t actually true.

Redick revealed that Doncic intentionally played less live basketball than usual during the offseason, focusing instead on his physical preparation.

“For someone who normally plays a ton of live basketball, he didn’t do as much of that this summer by design,” the coach explained.

Again, this is literally the same thing they said last summer:

The goal: For the first time in years, Dončić would let his body recover completely from the constant pounding of basketball. The summer before, in 2024, Luka had found little time to breathe. Since the Mavs had made the NBA Finals, he’d played into mid-June. Then, just weeks later, he suited up for the Slovenian national team in an Olympic qualifying tournament, eventually losing to Greece in the semis.

This summer, Team Luka’s had three full months to rebuild Dončić. So they dared to eliminate court time—and he disagreed at first. But he quickly filled the time with a weights routine that helped him build total-body strength. And he eventually found a distraction playing pickleball and padel (think: pickleball meets squash), sometimes against friends, sometimes with Barrio and Maček. For Dončić, the new games were a blast from his childhood past, long before he fell in love with basketball. They challenged new muscles, relieving his knees, thanks to fewer vertical jumps, while strengthening adductors, glutes, and ankles with footwork. “At the beginning, it was hard,” he says. “I can’t be without basketball. But when I was a little kid, I played a lot of sports.” He channeled that era—and maintained his competitive fire. “There were a lot of angry moments, too, when we would lose,” he says. “But I didn’t lose much.”

He’s a max player out of shape too

Even though millions is technically the right word it feels odd to call close to $70 million with contract + endorsements. But that’s just me being poor.

I also interpret it as any star player actually getting into shape before the beginning of the season is impressive considering some of them go into the season expecting to play themselves into shape.

This is why Nico was right. Just terrible execution though

All NBA First Team of Yearly Offseason Weaknesses Fixed:

Ben Simmons - 3p shootaround video.

Luka - not fat.

Zion - not fat.

Embiid - lost weight and knees are finally healed.

Markelle Fultz - Finally has a jumper.

Ayton - Finally motivated, with a great speech on how he’s locked in and has changed.

Thursday, ¹⁰⁄₈. Mark your calendars. Luka Doncic vs. Ben Simmons at Staples Center.

Thinking about the expectations of each is funny.

Ben Simmons: Take a jump shot

Luka: Lead his team to a championship with MVP level play

I feel like tatum growing several inches was the legendary one of these

I don’t like Luka but this is clearly the best shape he’s been in since he was a rookie

The off-season prep is never his issue either. The problem is that he gets hurt at some point and then his weight balloons up while he’s in recovery, then the injuries compound until the season ends and he enters rehab to get in “the best shape of his career” again.

Yeah but I mean it’s not about him being good, you’re right, he’s good at any weight, I think the point is him trying to stay healthy this season.

He hasn’t even been fat since last year so we shouldn’t really focus on his weight now.

He looked good last season too or are we blind

Might be the point. It’s a method to send a message to a star while saying positive things. We all seem to have caught on that this was said before and how JJ is saying it now makes previous comments appear untrue.

Oh look, a Thunder fan turning “Luka worked his ass off this summer” into “Luka looks extremely lazy based on this”

Almost like there’s a pattern here.

I mean, it depends on the context. Maybe it’s a little dig , with positive reinforcement or maybe, he is saying it more as…. “Luka is finally healthy”

Luka should never have been playing this much through injuries. He 100% should have taken time off to fully recover, but he never really got the chance… and I also believe he is kind of one of those guys where, yeah, full respect for the commitment, but they are also quite stupid about not taking care of themselves and not knowing when to say no.

Because you are not going to tell me that Luka can be called lazy when he is consistently within the top 5 or top10 for most minutes played by any athlete in the NBA.

He finally shook of his fathers bad influence. His father was basically pushing him to take it easier over the summer, made jokes because he was eating healthy and what not. Not to mention alcohol is constantly on his menu and he downs beers like we do shots of water. I hope this isn’t temporary and he sticks to actually living like an athlete.

Nico was right, Luka was never gonna get in shape in Dallas. Should’ve traded him for someone other than AD.

Luka is our new Shaq. World class player, once in a generation player, and so talented that he doesn’t need to work as hard as others to deliver 99th percentile performance.

He’s imperfect so just like with Shaq, you need a complementary and interchangeable 1a/1b like Kobe to bring the most and best out of him. As well as carry the load to ensure Shaq stayed healthy.

AR isnt quite that guy, but him plus Kessler, Grimes and a mix of a few others could theoretically provide what Luka lacks. If not I’m sure we’ll be shopping AR for a true #2.

Shawn Kemp.

Charles Barkley.

James harden

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Ive never seen a player praised as much as luka just for being in shape so

We’ll he’s an MVP caliber player who’s also spent most of his career in bad shape, why wouldn’t he?

You must be too young for the Antoine Walker saga. Or Eddy Curry. Media is pretty respectful about Luka considering how hard they used to go on players who let themselves go.

Then you must be watching sports since 2 days ago

Can’t believe nobody mentioned Shaq yet

I get what you mean, but in my personal opinion, you can’t fat shame an NBA player. It’s literally their job to stay in shape, and their salary compensates for it. Some players even have it in their contracts. An engineer should know how to calculate bearing loads on a building if that’s their job. A nurse should be able to insert a syringe in a vein. Military and police officers also have standards, and get fat shamed if they don’t uphold them, yet they aren’t making absurd amounts of money.

I think fat shaming normal people is bad, but NBA players? Nah. It’s their job to stay in shape.

How many players have you seen with his talent and potential? They’re usually held to higher standards.

Zion in the recent NBA. Kelvin Benjamin for athletes on reddit overall

I think the Western conference should collude and provide a complimentary dessert tray and keg to the Lakers locker room every game, by December Luka will be pudgy again.

And Luka wasn’t bad when he was overweight, and every time he got overweight was due to lower body injury so his ability to do cardio was affected while he still had to keep his intake to maintain muscle mass to play when he was cleared.

He definitely does, Luka does too. Luka will pay him back. They have a funny relationship.

Great sign for us. Phil Jackson used to make comments like that to motivate his guys. Seems like JJ following Phil in that regard.

JJ is just a prick. He can’t help it.

But it seems what he was trying to say is that Luka did dedicated conditioning training rather than playing basketball.

I agree but health wise, long term, this is better for him.

Maybe better health too. Hasn’t really been healthy for like 3 straight playoffs at least (finals run + last 2 lakers seasons)

Nope

if only all players ran more then they’d average 30/8/8 and take you to the finals

i know right? i ran last night ffs

What are you talking about? He has maintained it. He’s been like this since last year.

This was the big storyline last season offseason too