If you're a Lakers fan hoping to keep an eye on Luka Doncic and his conditioning journey this summer, you might get clammy hands if you see a video of Doncic and think, "That's a lot of plates."
But rest easy. We're not talking plates of pasta or enchiladas here. It's plates on the squat machine.
On Tuesday, a video of Doncic in training began making the rounds on social media, with Doncic doing squats on a machine overloaded with plates. There were 16 in all, and though we can't be sure exactly how much each plate weighs, they appeared to be standard 45-pound weight-lifting plates.
That means Doncic was squatting a hefty 720 pounds. With relative ease, mind you.
As the "Hero of the Day" account noted, "Luka Doncic just now posted this to IG. Putting in that work. Strongest legs in the Association."
As the "Zero Gravity Sports Media" account wrote on Instagram, "Breakout MVP season incoming for Luka??ð"
And the "Overtime" IG account posted to its 10.7 million followers, "OH HE GETTING SWOLEEE."
All of this is important, of course, because one of the unspoken--but strongly hinted at--reasons for the Mavericks trading away Doncic back in February was that he was not in good enough shape, and the team did not know whether it could count on him going forward.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77)
© Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
That's inspired months of debate and speculation over whether Doncic is too heavy, or whether his size is not an issue. Either way, he finished the year averaging 28.1 points, 7.8 assists and 8.3 rebounds, which, if he is not in good shape, still qualify as top-shelf numbers.
But the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the NBA postseason, prompting coach JJ Redick to note, that the goal this offseason is improve conditioning.
Most believe he was referencing Doncic when he told reporters, "Certainly, there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There's certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That's where my mind goes immediately is we have to get in championship shape."
We'll see where Doncic winds up as he goes through the EuroBasket tournament with Slovenia this summer and eventually back at camp with the Lakers. But he appears to be trying for championship shape, at least.