Lakers star Luka Doncic, who has faced criticism over the years for his conditioning, weight, and workout habits, is on the cover of the latest issue of Men’s Health and is the subject of a handful of feature stories from the magazine as a result of the work he has put in this offseason.
In addition to their cover story on Doncic, Men’s Health published separate articles about the star guard’s intense summer training regimen and the gluten-free, low-sugar diet he has been on since the Lakers’ season ended.
As Andrew Heffernan and Ebenezer Samuel of Men’s Health detail, Doncic let manager Lara Beth Seager know the day after Los Angeles was eliminated from the playoffs that he wanted to dedicate this offseason to improving his body and his conditioning — and that he wanted to start that work immediately.
“Every summer I try my best to work on different things,” said Doncic, who took a month off from any basketball activities after the season as he focused on his training. “Obviously, I’m very competitive. This summer was just a little bit different, you know. It kind of motivated me to be even better.”
As Dan Woike of The Athletic observes, Doncic began working with trainer Anže Maček and physiotherapist Javier Barrio back in 2023, so the idea of embarking upon a stricter workout program didn’t materialize overnight — some sources in the 26-year-old’s inner circle believe he would’ve taken this path toward a physical transformation even if he was still in Dallas, according to Woike.
But calf issues last season set Doncic back, and the fact that the Mavericks cited his conditioning and work habits after making the shocking decision to trade him in February provided some extra fuel as he began his new training program this spring. The photos shared by Men’s Health show a more toned, slimmed-down version of the five-time All-Star.
“Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” Doncic acknowledged.
After spending much of the offseason in Europe, Doncic is back in the United States this week doing promotional work for Jordan Brand. According to Woike, Doncic is headed to Chicago and then to Los Angeles after making multiple appearances in New York City.
It’s likely not a coincidence, Woike writes, that Doncic’s stop in L.A. will line up with August 2, the day the restrictions on his contract extension eligibility lift.
While there has long been a sense that Doncic would likely sign some form of extension with the Lakers this offseason, there was speculation that it might happen later in the year, once his obligations to the Slovenian national team had wrapped up. But it now looks like there will be an opening for a deal to get done as soon as this weekend, before he heads back overseas for EuroBasket.
As he gears up for this year’s EuroBasket tournament and the coming NBA season, Doncic made it clear that he intends to keep up his new regimen, since he doesn’t work his work this offseason to “all (be) for nothing.”
“This year, with my team, I think we did a huge step,” he said. “But this is just the start, you know. I need to keep going. Can’t stop.”
For the second consecutive season, multiple players will have no-trade clauses in their contracts during the 2025/26 league year. In addition to 
Castleton, who went undrafted out of Florida in 2023, spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Lakers, who waived him last October, a few days before the 2024/25 campaign began.