“Escape from the city” — that was the realtor’s pitch to the buyers for a four-bedroom home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas. The appeal of the promise was tantalizing, enough for a $3.3 million cheque to be slashed by Luka Doncic in 2020. That has been his home since late January when the Slovenian bought another $15 million house in the city. But the dice rolled hard enough for Doncic’s luck to bounce out of Dallas’ bounds. Luka got traded just after splashing that money. The teary-eyed, shell-shocked, mentally drained Doncic left his beloved Dallas. An ironic “escape from the city” indeed.

This was no small deal. So unbelievable it was that many had initially thought that ESPN’s Shams Charania, who broke the news, had been hacked. After getting over that initial shock, the NBA world witnessed a flurry of extraordinary emotion that involved practically everyone from a normal fan to players to analysts and whatnot. And in the center of that storm stood the man- the Mavs’ general manager Nico Harrison. The question to him was simple: Why did you do that?

As the insiders started immensely digging into the matter, roughly two reasons emerged. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported Mavericks had “major concerns” about Luka’s conditioning and committing to another supermax contract extension, which he would have been able to sign this coming offseason. Indeed, a lot has happened around Luka’s conditioning.

According to the ESPN report, Doncic’s weight had reached over 260 pounds, when Dallas believed his ideal weight was 245 pounds. He already missed 27 games this season, including 11 days to lose weight. To address this, the Mavericks started making desperate changes around Luka. Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reported the Mavericks fired former director of player health and performance Casey Smith in 2023, strength coach Jeremy Holsopple, and manual therapist Casey Spangler after last season, all that Luka enjoyed working with. “They get rid of everybody I like,” Luka told an ESPN source.

But this so-called ‘out of shape’ player is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game this season. The NBA world was again shocked. Former Mavs Markieff Morris said, “If you can go in an NBA game and get 30-15-10 like it’s nothing, then I don’t really know what ‘in shape’ is.” But soft-spoken Luka won’t say anything controversial about it. He would just say he is “used to it” and that hearing this was a “motive” for him. When asked if anyone in his inner circle indicated that he might not agree to the SuperMax extension, Luka’s short reply was “Absolutely not.” But doesn’t battling such a huge storm with that calm take a toll on the mind? Looks like it has for Luka.

Last night didn’t go well for the Purple and Gold, who fell 131-119 to the Jazz. After the loss, Luka engaged with the reporters. With February reaching its mid-week, the NBA community is buzzing about All-Star weekend. But this time it was different for the guard. After five consecutive appearances, the 25-year-old wouldn’t participate in the star-studded game. So, how does he plan to spend the All-Star break? “Just mental break for me, work out and just trying to have some fun with the family.” Luka also addressed his performance in the night.

“Obviously today I felt a little bit rusty. Two games in after my injury, turnovers, missed free throws, so I got to do way better… I am excited about this break and can’t wait to go back to play,” Luka added.

Luka Doncic has built a beautiful family with his fiancée, Anamaria Goltes, and they have a daughter, Gabriela, whose name Luka sports on his sneakers while on the court. Alongside Luka, they all endured the blow of the difficult split with the Mavs. Now that it has all come to a halt, they definitely need time to process everything, and a vacation sounds like the perfect way to do that. However, before that, there’s one concern still on several minds, is he completely over his injury?

Top Comment by adobeblue18

What a terrible clickbait title. He just had his whole world rearranged and he wants to use some time...more

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Luka Doncic sheds light on recovery of his calf injury

The season, as we know, hasn’t gone according to Luka Doncic’s plans. He was mostly sidelined due to lingering injuries, and on Christmas Day, the scariest of them all occurred. A strain to his left calf. And it was game over for the 5-time All-Star. He was immediately ruled out by the Mavs for over a month. But now, he’s back on the hardwood and has opened up about his health.

“It’s good,” Doncic said about the recovery. “Still getting back in rhythm. You know, you can’t really practice that 5-on-5 stuff. It’s way different in the game. But you know, just I’m just happy to be back out there and trying to win and trying to play games.” Doncic has appeared in two games for the Lakers, scoring 14 and 16 points respectively. Although he did not look his usual self, there were flashes of brilliance.

He dazzled with a nifty pass to Rui Hachimura for a corner 3-pointer. But in this rematch, Utah was much more organized on both ends of the floor which had Los Angeles down 13-12 midway through the first. Luka got the Lakers back into the game with a lob to Hayes and a 3-pointer at the top of the arc to give the team a 19-17 lead. Alex Len made his debut and Dalton Knecht returned to the lineup near the end of the quarter, but L.A. found themselves trailing 33-30 at the end of the first.

Without their normal lineups on the floor, the Laker offense struggled though LeBron James did his best to keep it afloat. Luka checked back in and immediately got the Lakers back on track with a layup and some good passes to help them retake the lead. For now, he’s taking it slow and steady, rushing might not be a good idea after such a long break, Redick knows that. Maybe after the mental break, we’ll see Luka work his magic for the new franchise.