Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick issues a “championship shape” directive to his players this offseason, and as superstar Luka Dončić told reporters on Thursday, it goes beyond just conditioning.
“It’s not just physical shape, it’s mental shape too. That kinda goes both ways,” he said. “Both are very, very important. We’re doing it in practices. It’s great. Everybody’s in great shape, everybody’s running a lot, so it’s been great so far.”
Redick offered his own explanation of his goal for the team.
“I think there’s three ways I kind of view, ‘Are we in shape?'” he told reporters. “The first would be, ‘Are we sprinting back defensively?’ Are we playing with pace offensively?’ And I would include our ability to crash and then get back on defense in that. And then, ‘Are we being physical?’ So, if those things are being done at a really high level, we’re in shape.”
Dončić in particular has seemed to take the message to heart, appearing to lose significant weight this offseason after plenty of rumblings that the Dallas Mavericks weren’t happy with his playing weight before shockingly trading them to the Lakers.
Call it a glow up to spite an ex, though the Lakers will be plenty happy to be the relationship rebound if Dončić tears it up this season as expected.
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