HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[michaeltex]

nd beyond body analysis, I see Luka laboring up and down the court (and have wondered outloud if he is nursing an injury/tendinitis). I don't see him out of breath the way he was last season, but I see him a step slower. Struggling to get to the rim in the same way he has in season's past. I also see his outside shot looking poor (29% from three so far, bad like the beginning of last season when he was out of shape).

Looks like he's carrying an extra 20-30 lbs compared to last year.


Since the start of the 19/20 season, he hasn't really had a break from competition.

Start season in fall 2019, season halted in March 2020.
"Bubble" season and seeding games started in July 2020 and DAL played until eliminated on August 30th.
20/21 season started on Dec 22nd with short notice and Dal played until eliminated on June 6th.
Slovenia's Olympic team played first scrimmage game on June 16th and finished qualifying tournament on July 4th.
Olympic tournament started on July 26th and finished on August 7th.
NBA 2021/22 pre-season started on October 3rd, with camp opening a couple weeks before.
Somewhere in the middle of all this Luka signed a $200+ supermax contract extension.

I'm guessing the time Luka spent between finishing the Olympic tournament and reporting to training camp (~6 weeks) was not spent grinding in a gym or weight room. And probably not monitoring his diet very closely either.