Training camp opens September 29. Luka Dončić will be there — leaner, healthier, and leading a Lakers team that has never quite looked like his.
The Slovenian star is returning to Los Angeles at approximately 230 pounds, down from his listed 240, after a summer defined by intentional work and uncommon commitment. It’s the lowest weight he has carried since joining the Lakers, and by all accounts the best shape he has been in since his first month in LA. His longtime trainer Anze Macek guided the program, mixing pool work and strength sessions to bring Dončić’s conditioning to a level that generated genuine buzz during a four-day team minicamp in Ljubljana.
Slovenia as a reset button
That minicamp — held in August, organized by Dončić himself — brought nearly the entire Lakers roster to his home city. Part team bonding, part physical reset. Video from the sessions showed a noticeably slimmer Dončić moving with an ease that had been less obvious in past training camps.
He suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, an injury that ended his 2025-26 season before the playoffs. He pursued advanced rehabilitation — including stem-cell therapy — and returned to Los Angeles around September 28, healthy and at 230 pounds for the first time in his Lakers career.
A franchise at a turning point
The context matters. LeBron James is gone. Austin Reaves, the only significant free agent re-signed this summer, is a complement, not a centerpiece. Walker Kessler was brought in at center. A collection of younger pieces fills the rest of the roster. This is, without question, Dončić’s team now.
That clarity might be the biggest development of the offseason. For the first time since arriving in LA at the trade deadline in 2025, there is no larger narrative competing with his. The stage is his, the weight is down, the hamstring is healed. Camp starts in five days.
“I’ve been the true leader,” Dončić said this summer. The 2026-27 season will be his clearest argument yet that he meant it.
Sources: Heavy.com, Eastern Herald, Yahoo Sports.
