Lakers assistant coach: Enhancing endurance is one of Luca s goals in the new season, and he has not seen his new version yet

Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Greg Saint-jean talked about Luca Doncic's body shape improvement and its impact on the game, revealing that one of the Slovenian superstar's main goals in the upcoming NBA season is to improve endurance at the end of the game.

Although most NBA players and coaches are enjoying the offseason, there are still some who continue to train hard in the summer. Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Greg Saint-jean is one of them, who joined the Slovenian national team before the 2025 European Championships. For Saint Jean, this is not the first time he has worked with the Slovenian team where Luca Doncic is located in the summer - he played for the team in 2022, but it will be his first time in the main game.

Saint Jean said: "This is my first time in an official event, but I enjoy it. Everyone respects me very much. I love spending time with all the young players and coaches,"

Intersection with Luka Doncic: From Dallas to Slovenia

That said,

and Doncic have an intersection for no reason. Before Doncic joined the Lakers with a heavy trade, the two met unexpectedly this year, they worked together in Dallas for two years (2021-2023).

Saint-Jean talks about Doncic's growth in the NBA: "I think all great players will always add new skills to their games, evolve and mature. Doncic has been like this every season in the NBA, and it is a blessing to be able to coach him again. And he is better now than when I first coached him." The transformation of "slim Doncic" has been obvious. "Slim Doncic" is one of the hottest topics this summer, with reports that the Lakers star lost 31 pounds. Still, Saint Jean believes we have not seen a brand new version of Doncic.

"I think this is still going on," Saint-jean said in an interview. "The summer isn't over. He will continue to get better. I think as he finds more rhythm and gets better in the game, we'll see more changes. He has done a lot of training and is about to play five-on-five. Last week (the interview took place on Friday local time) was his first five-on-five in a long time."

"So it's a step-by-step process. As the game moves forward, and prepares for the new season of the Lakers, we'll see him play more games and get better in shape," the Lakers coach continued.

Continuous improvement: Doncic's physical fitness and endurance

One criticism that Doncic has received is his physical condition. Sometimes, the Lakers superstar will be obviously tired at the end of the game and will find it difficult to maintain the pace of the first half. Saint-Jean said improving endurance is one of Doncic's goals in the upcoming season.

"I think he has been training hard all summer and doing a great job. We'll see that. But the goal is clear, to keep him in high intensity form, he has a lot of playing time and he has a heavy responsibility. So as he keeps improving, that's going to be very important. But we're really proud of him, and he's done a really good so far," concluded Saint Jean.

source:7m cnc