After the shocking February trade that sent him from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers, Luka Dončić took some time to get fully acclimated to his new surroundings. He was understandably shaken by the trade, but he is now establishing roots in L.A., especially after signing a three-year, $165 million contract extension last month.
He will undoubtedly benefit from having a full offseason and training camp as a member of the Lakers. Even better, he has dropped plenty of weight and gotten into fantastic shape, which could set the scene for him to put forth an MVP-caliber season.
With training camp just days away, LeBron Wire will now take a look at three goals Doncic should pursue in order to win his first NBA MVP and, more importantly, help the Lakers contend for the world championship this season.
Improve man-to-man defense
Defense has been the big bone of contention for Doncic in recent seasons. During L.A.’s first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves a few months ago, he noticeably had trouble staying in front of his man defensively, and it was something Minnesota exploited.
However, he played very well during EuroBasket 2025 a few weeks ago, and his stellar play spilled over to the defensive end. Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean was with the Slovenian national team during the tournament, and he reportedly showed a video edit of Doncic playing defense to Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulić. St. Jean even believed that Doncic was the best defender on Slovenia’s roster.
The 26-year-old doesn’t need to become an excellent defender, but if he at least becomes a neutral defender, it would be a significant improvement for him.
Play at faster pace offensively
Another thing some have criticized Doncic for is his slow pace of play. While he’s naturally unathletic by NBA standards, he has had a tendency to walk the ball upcourt after defensive rebounds, and in today’s NBA, that is simply not a recipe for a successful offense.
But during EuroBasket 2025, he was playing at a somewhat faster pace while bringing the ball upcourt. Los Angeles was tied for 17th in fast-break points per game last season, and it was 26th in that category after the All-Star break, so it definitely needs Doncic to put forth a greater effort and create more pace.
Improve overall shooting efficiency
An argument could be made that, if he really wants to, Doncic can shoot 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 90% from the free throw line for an entire season.
During the 2023-24 campaign, his best one to date, he made 48.7% of his field-goal attempts and 38.2% of his 3-point tries while leading the league in scoring average. The previous season, he shot 49.6% from the field. However, he was at just 45% overall for the 2024-25 season.
Doncic’s free throw shooting has always been disappointing — he has a career mark of 75.1% from the charity stripe. But during EuroBasket 2025, he made an outstanding 87.8% of his free throw attempts. That will come in handy during close games for the Lakers, especially come playoff time.
Being in better shape should definitely help him be more efficient in all three categories, especially late in games, which is when fatigue washes over players who lack fitness and conditioning.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers 3 goals: Will this season be Luka Doncic’s ‘revenge tour?’
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
