The hard work and preparation that goes on off the court is something fans are never properly privileged to seeing when it comes to their favorite NBA superstars. Even still, most can recognize that LeBron James has been the standard for his 22-year career in the league.
Luka Doncic is well aware of this fact too, after spending his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was something the Slovenian superstar highlighted on his appearance of the Mind the Game podcast alongside James and Steve Nash.
"Just to play with guys like him, like, it's unbelievable. I could learn so many stuff," Doncic told Nash. "First of all, off the court, all the things he does just to be ready. ... He shows up like 10 hours before the game. I came to the arena [and] ... he was already done working out. I was like, what?"
The example set by James is one the Lakers will be hoping Doncic can emulate to a sustainable capacity. No one can ever truly be the machine that LeBron has been for 22 years. However, it is a great standard to aspire to.
James can help Doncic put old narratives to bed
The narratives that surrounded Doncic after his exit from the Dallas Mavericks should still be fresh in most people's minds. The six-time All-NBA selection was called out of shape, sloppy, you name it. There is no better way to comfortably put that to bed than following James' example.
Doncic had a tough year where a handful of injuries plagued him throughout the 2024-25 NBA season. This offseason will be a crucial one to firmly reestablishing the superstar point guard as a top three player in the world.
Luka Doncic is looking slim 👀 pic.twitter.com/YSRdts9PLE
— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) May 27, 2025
In relation to those narratives, NBA fans have already started taking notice of Doncic's offseason look. The superstar talent is certainly passing the visual checkpoints for everyone paying attention.
It is important to note that these narratives were more than a little silly from the get-go. However, it is still encouraging to see the Lakers superstar respond to the noise with the right mindset.
There will on-court lessons that Doncic can learn from James as well. Nash pointed out on the podcast episode that the two superstars play a very similar brand of basketball offensively. That is, apart from the bounce, which Luka was happy to poke fun at.
While LeBron still has a player option for next season that could result in him playing elsewhere in 2025-26, most expect the 21-time All-Star to be back in Los Angeles for the upcoming campaign. This will give Doncic at least one more year to study from arguably the best to ever do it.