'They Got Skinny Elvis,' Mavs Insider Talks Luka Doncic to Lakers Ahead of Trade Anniversary
Nearing the one year anniversary of his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, officials for the Dallas Mavericks are still taking credit for motivating Luka Dončić to change his conditioning habits.
Per The Athletic's Christian Clark and Dan Woike, one source with the Mavericks compared Dončić to Elvis Presley.
"They got skinny Elvis," the person said.
For the young crowd who also might have missed Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic starring Austin Butler, Presley went through a well-documented weight gain later in his life prior to his death in 1977 at the age of 42.
The Mavs traded Dončić to Los Angeles on Feb. 2 in a stunning move that caught everyone in the sports world off guard.
In the aftermath of the trade, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported there was "significant frustration" within the Mavericks organization about Dončić's "lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning, which team sources considered a major factor in his injury issues."
McMenamin added that Dončić reported to training camp with the Mavs at the start of last season "relatively lean" by his usual standards, but his weight was in the "high 260s" at one point.
Dončić and his camp seemed to make a point of emphasizing his workout routine over the summer. He was the subject of a full article in Men's Health about his physical transformation.
It's hard to say that any of this has actually changed Dončić's on-court performance in a meaningful way because he was already one of the best players in the NBA.
Even before the Mavs decided they had to trade Dončić because they were reportedly unhappy with his fitness, he was averaging 28.1 points on 46.4 percent shooting, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game in 22 starts last season.
The five-time All-Star is currently leading the NBA in scoring average with 33.4 points per game, along with 8.7 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. He's on pace for his second-highest scoring season (33.9 points in 2023-24), but the third-lowest three-point percentage (33.3) of his career.
