Luka Doncic is coming into his first full season with the Los Angeles Lakers in the most effective form of his profession, and in accordance with assistant coach Greg St. Jean, LeBron James deserves credit score for serving to push the Slovenian celebrity to remodel his physique.
“You realize what? I at all times discover this — iron sharpens iron,” St. Jean advised BasketNews. “Once you’re round actually good gamers, it’s similar to if you’re a coach, and also you’re round a extremely good coach. You’ll be able to’t assist however be motivated to proceed to get higher at your craft.
“I believe Luka’s realized a little bit bit from each nice participant he’s been round. And I do know he’s at all times seemed as much as LeBron.
“He’s at all times been any individual he’s actually admired. So I believe having these two collectively is clearly motivating. I believe it’s two-way motivating as effectively. I don’t suppose it’s only a one-way avenue.”
The 26-year-old guard underwent a dramatic transformation this summer time, reportedly shedding greater than 31 kilos. His dedication got here simply months after he was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to Los Angeles in February, the place he now shares the ground with the 40-year-old James.
“I believe LeBron, you’ll be able to see, is working actually exhausting as effectively. He’s up at 5 a.m., and he’s engaged on his physique as effectively,” St. Jean continued. “So, I believe our group and our gamers — it’s not nearly these two guys — however I believe everyone’s motivated to come back again and have a extremely good season.”
By means of three EuroBasket 2025 video games, Doncic is averaging 33.0 factors, 7.3 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and three.3 steals. He additionally grew to become simply the fifth participant in historical past to report a triple-double at EuroBasket, becoming a member of Stojko Vrankovic, Toni Kukoc, Rares Mandache, and Mateusz Ponitka.
READ MORE: Klay Thompson Opens Up on Warriors’ Dynasty Struggles