{"id":163025,"date":"2025-10-16T16:47:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=163025"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:47:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:47:54","slug":"jason-kidd-praises-luka-doncic-new-physique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/16\/jason-kidd-praises-luka-doncic-new-physique\/","title":{"rendered":"Revamped Luka Don\u010di\u0107 Earns Jason Kidd’s Profound Respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The buzz around the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason wasn’t so much about who they brought in to fix flaws and fill holes<\/a>, because the moves they made weren’t earth-shattering in any way. LeBron James<\/a> had the usual offseason commotion surrounding him, but everyone knew he was staying put in LA. No, the buzz was pointed in the direction of Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>, whom Jason Kidd, Luka’s former coach, finally spoke out in length about his former player’s summer transformation. Transformation, of course, meaning Luka’s physical shape changed drastically, to the point where he graced the cover of magazines, dressed up for some photo shoots, and showcased his new self for Team Slovenia in EuroBasket 2025 over the summer. Ahead of this week’s preseason game between the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, Kidd offered some very respectful and admirable remarks about Luka.<\/p>\n

Revamped Luka Don\u010di\u0107 Earns Jason Kidd’s Profound Respect<\/h2>\n

Jason Kidd is looking forward to competing against new and improved Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/h3>\n

Lakers fans and Luka fans got a preview of his new physique over the summer while he played for Slovenia. Luka looked rather excellent, to say the least. He has been on the receiving end of countless compliments, mostly from his own teammates and head coach, JJ Redick<\/a>, up until now. Kidd, who coached Luka for four seasons in Dallas, hadn’t spoken much about Luka’s new approach to his offseason training until Wednesday’s preseason game against the Lakers. Before that game, <\/span>Kidd showed the utmost respect to his former superstar<\/span><\/a>, hailing his offseason as quite the accomplishment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great what Luka has done in the summer with his body. His game has gotten better,” <\/em>Kidd said. “We respect what Luka has done this summer. We wish him the best of luck. He\u2019s on the other side. He\u2019s gonna try to kick our butt & we\u2019re gonna try to kick his butt. That\u2019s just being competitors\u2026 Give him credit \u2013 he\u2019s learned and wants to be the best. We\u2019ll play him four times and have our chance to stop him\u2026\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

Kidd would likely never admit it publicly, but there has to be a part of him that, while wishing Luka the best, he also wishes Luka had never <\/span>been traded<\/span>. The entire Mavericks fanbase feels that way, as do likely most of Luka’s former teammates. So, surely, Kidd, who had a solid relationship with Luka, must feel the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can the Lakers play with the Mavericks this season?<\/h3>\n

There’s no doubt that, in terms of roster improvement and rotation player construction<\/a>, the Mavericks have the upper hand on the Lakers, and it’s a significant upper hand. Anthony Davis<\/a> is back and healthy. Cooper Flagg<\/a>, while landing perfectly on the Mavericks’ lap in the draft, is already showing the threat he is \u2014 and he will be a threat moving forward. With the solid rotation pieces, abundance of size and strength in the paint, the Mavericks are sure to be playoff contenders this year. Who knows how good they’ll be if and when Kyrie Irving<\/a> returns.<\/p>\n

\"Los
Apr 22, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) leave a court after at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lakers have a strong opponent in the Mavs to deal with. In fact, they will with a handful of other strong teams in the West to deal with. Rest assured, though, that all matchups between the Lakers and Mavericks will be some of the most hyped and go-to games throughout the season. As great as Luka is, the Lakers’ supporting cast doesn’t hold a candle to the Mavericks. That’s why the health and availability of LeBron will either make or break LA this season.<\/p>\n

If LeBron is injured, like he is now for the time being, the Mavericks may actually have the better season. This possibility could give the franchise even more room to breathe following last season’s ‘worst trade ever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The buzz around the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason wasn’t so much about who they brought in to fix flaws and fill holes, because the moves they made weren’t earth-shattering in any way. LeBron James had the usual offseason commotion surrounding him, but everyone knew he was staying put in LA. No, the buzz was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":163027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1608,26,62],"tags":[240,48964,406,4675,1133],"class_list":["post-163025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-lebro-james","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163036,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163025\/revisions\/163036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}