Slovenia coach: Luka is ‘very motivated’ for EuroBasket, NBA season

As Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic spends time with the Slovenia men’s national basketball team, head coach Aleksander Sekulic offered some thoughts about the 26-year-old’s big offseason.

Sekulic noted that Doncic likely isn’t at his peak right now because he just started basketball training again after taking time away from the sport to focus on his body transformation this summer.

“Luka has changed his way of working, and whether he is more prepared or not, we will see,” Sekulic told Meridian Sport, according to a translation. “He cannot be at his peak now—he’s only just started basketball training.”

The coach added that Doncic is “very motivated.”

“He’s not the real Doncic yet, and we all know what that looks like,” Sekulic said. “The most important thing is that he’s very motivated. He came to achieve something special with the national team and then be ready for the new season.”

After Doncic’s time with the national team is done, he will shift his focus back to the Lakers, who will look to make the most of their upcoming season after an interesting summer.

For the Lakers, this NBA offseason has featured some key additions (like Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart), some departures (most notably Dorian Finney-Smith), some drama surrounding star LeBron James and a major contract extension for Doncic.

The hope is that in the end, the Lakers will come out the other side with an improved squad in the upcoming season, which could be the final season in which Doncic and James feature as a duo.

Doncic has made it clear that he’s motivated to win an NBA championship, and in May, he reportedly told Lakers figures that after he got a taste of the NBA Finals with the Dallas Mavericks, he is “getting back there.”

His body transformation this offseason could help him on both ends of the floor, a scary thought for the rest of the league since he was already an MVP candidate at times in recent years before getting into better shape. In the 2023-24 season, which ended with a trip to the NBA Finals, he won the league’s scoring title and finished third in MVP voting.

His time playing with Slovenia this offseason should help him get adjusted to playing basketball again before the NBA campaign arrives, and with any luck, he will bring home some hardware both with Slovenia and the Lakers soon.