Luka Doncic's Lakers transformation is at risk of crashing and burning — again

The biggest story in the NBA last year was when Nico Harrison shipped out Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. This caused an uproar among the Dallas Mavericks fanbase, who called for Nico Harrison's job, mostly because they lost the face of their city to the much-hated Lakers.

After a long season of playing as an MVP-caliber player in 2023-24, Doncic made the decision to play for Slovenia to try to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, but they ended up not making it. Despite not even making the world's biggest tournament, Mavs fans were loud on Doncic competing for Slovenia after he battled countless injuries in the season prior. Since he is going to compete in EuroBasket in a few months, his entire summer transformation that the entire world is raving about could end up flopping.

The reason why Doncic has been able to get back into shape is because of his intense diet and training regimen that was implemented by his body team. He's also been eating high amounts of protein and working in the weight room rather than only on the basketball court. With EuroBasket competition later this summer, this could compromise Doncic for all of the hard work he's done to get to this point.

Luka Doncic playing in EuroBasket has proven to be a risk in the past

With Doncic playing in EuroBasket this summer, his body is going to be put to the test quickly. Mavs fans probably wouldn't care about him doing that now compared to him doing so years prior, but this could risk everything he's worked for to get back into shape.

Whether or not fans want to see it, Doncic looked massively different from his first three years compared to 2024. That could've been because of off-court habits and lack of conditioning. While Harrison was still, (and will always be) wrong to trade Doncic away instead of working with him, some sort of transformation was needed at some point. The Mavericks just got the short end of the stick and didn't want to wait just months for that to happen. If they did, Doncic would still be a Maverick.

Playing in EuroBasket could tire out Doncic ahead of the regular season, or worse, he gets injured. The thing that frustrated Mavs fans so much was the fact that he would always play every year, causing him to eventually have nagging injuries. Even though it was never wrong for Doncic to play for Slovenia, as he loves his country, Dallas definitely paid the price during the regular season.

Doncic's body would sometimes break down quicker during the regular season due to the long summers he was having, and although he seems fully healthy this time around, EuroBasket is still a risk. Mavericks fans have seen Doncic get in shape during the summer in the past, but oftentimes, one injury can throw a wrench into his entire process.

For the Lakers, they are already in a gray area in regards to the future of LeBron James. Turning 41 in December in what could be his final season, the keys are in the hands of Doncic for the unofficial passing of the torch. If he does suffer more lower-body injuries, the Lakers might end up in the same predicament that once plagued the Mavericks.

Regardless of whether Doncic were to get hurt playing overseas when he doesn't need to, this is no longer a problem that Harrison or Patrick Dumont have to worry about. The era of Cooper Flagg has already begun, and it's time to look ahead to a new chapter in Dallas anyway.