“I Think I Was a Good Player Before Too”: Lakers' Luka Doncic Makes Honest Admission On Offseason Body Transformation

“I Think I Was a Good Player Before Too”: Lakers' Luka Doncic Makes Honest Admission On Offseason Body Transformation originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Los Angeles Lakers will welcome a reformed Luka Doncic into the preseason in late September. Expectations are high after Doncic's offseason body transformation, highlighted by his cover story for Men's Health Magazine. After years of criticism, Doncic is ready to respond to his doubters about his conditioning.

As the Slovenian guard gets ready to represent his national team at EuroBasket 2025, Dallas Hoops Journal has shared new quotes from Doncic candidly discussing the primary reasons that enabled his physical transformation.

Luka Doncic Makes It Clear His Past Self Was No Slouch

At a Slovenian press conference before the team's EuroBasket campaign, Doncic made a strong remark about the player he used to be.

“I get this question all the time. I think I was a good player before, too."

Doncic then broke down how the circumstances of this year's offseason allowed him to make the body changes everyone's been criticizing him for years.

“What drove me? Basically, we made a slightly different training plan. Well, I had a little more time. Last summer was really tiring. I played until June, then the national team, so there was no energy. This year I had more time.”

Doncic averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists last season in the most limited season of his career, as he struggled with injuries and made just 50 appearances.

His five-year streak of All-NBA First Team appearances ended as well, making it arguably the worst season of Doncic's NBA career outside his rookie year.

Nonetheless, the man who made those five straight appearances and led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals battled these same questions about his conditioning.

Even Nico Harrison Admitted Luka Doncic's Shape Didn't Determine His Production

The man many blame for Doncic's early exit from the Mavericks is team GM Nico Harrison. While Harrison has never publicly claimed the reason for the trade was Doncic's conditioning or availability, he did comment on how prolific Doncic can be even when he's supposedly out of shape in April.

“No, Luka’s an extremely talented player, as we all know, we’ve all seen,” Harrison said. “He’s probably dropped the most points when maybe he’s not in the best conditioning, so he can do that. That’s not an issue.”

Even though Harrison admitted Doncic has shown he can produce at historic levels while out of shape, he never said that he was okay with that.

Doncic's 2025 offseason transformation might have been coming anyway if he stayed with the Mavericks and had an early Playoff exit. We can't know for sure, but we can ascertain that Doncic being traded to the Lakers gave him all the motivation he needed as well.

With Doncic being ranked the fourth-best player in the West by NBA.com, he has even more motivation to send a message to his doubters.

With many expecting Doncic to be in the best shape of his career, fans will be waiting with bated breath to see if he could somehow surpass the giddy highs of 23-24 (season averages: 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists), but in a Lakers uniform.

Related: Former Mavericks Coach Slams NBA Double Standards on Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.