DALLAS — Anze Macek got a phone call late last May, about a week after the Mavericks’ Western Conference finals playoff run ended.
On the other line: Luka Doncic.
“Hey,” the Mavericks’ superstar said when the Slovenian national team’s trainer answered. “I want to stay in shape.”
Say no more.
So started the offseason partnership many in Dallas hope will lead to a fitter, more cohesive start to Doncic’s fifth NBA season with the 23-year-old superstar in the MVP conversation throughout.
Knowing NBA followers — in the U.S. and abroad — are hyper focused on Doncic’s weight and conditioning after disjointed 2020 and 2021 offseasons, Macek sat down with The Dallas Morning News in Cologne, Germany, between Slovenia’s EuroBasket games to detail their summer training approach.
Call it a balance of rest, endurance, strength, basketball and competition.
So, so much competition.
“He has a lot of things that he can improve in the future, and what is the most important — that he knows,” Macek said. “He knows that things by the years will get tougher for him, and he will have to put more effort into his body [so] that he will be able to play many more successful seasons. This is the most important: He knows what he needs to do in the future.”
Macek has worked with the Slovenian national team since 2018 — the year after teenage Doncic’s debut for EuroBasket gold — and the two became close during the squad’s 2021 Olympic summer.
After more than two months together for the Olympic qualifying tournament and Tokyo Games, Macek and Doncic worked briefly in the last six weeks before the Mavericks’ started training camp.
They did some strength and agility work, played tennis and a couple other sports for movement, and engaged with a few exercises for explosiveness and high-intensity intervals.
But Doncic prioritized rest — physical and mental — after he transitioned right from the Mavericks’ 2021 first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Clippers into a non-stop summer with the national team.
A well-earned break, no doubt.
But when Doncic called Macek to start training this summer, he kept in mind his two-month slog to start last season, when his endurance was sapped and injuries took longer to heal and he faced a career-long 10-game absence, in part, to recondition last December.
Not again.
“He’s a really interesting guy,” Macek said. “What he wants to do, he will do.”
They trained in stages this summer.
Before the national team started practices in mid-June, they held individual sessions to work on lower body injury rehabilitation — specifically on his left leg — after Doncic’s ankle and calf injuries disrupted last season.
Add in stability and core conditioning and basketball-specific endurance exercises, too.
“He has really strong legs, and it doesn’t make sense that we would put even more and more strength on legs,” Macek said. “A little bit more movement and jumps and this stuff.”
Then came about more than two weeks of national team practices, friendly exhibitions and a pair of World Cup qualifying games, in which Doncic totaled 52 points, 18 rebounds, 16 assists and four steals over two victories.
In July, Doncic took about four weeks off, a priority for the Mavericks after their superstar logged the NBA’s second-highest regular-season usage percentage (36.8%) — behind only Joel Embiid — and the highest playoff usage percentage (39.6%) — more than two percentage points above second-place Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“This time that you spend with family and friends is the most important time in the offseason,” Macek said. “You need to rest the body. You need to forget about basketball and everything for a while, and this was the best time for him.”
Doncic returned to work with Macek in August before the national team powered through four more friendly exhibitions, two more World Cup qualifiers and seven grueling EuroBasket contests in the first 14 days of September.
No lack of non-game day competition, either.
Macek knew Doncic’s eccentric force and ability to decelerate on the court made him “practically unstoppable” when he got low in his stance to throw defenders off their rhythm.
He knew Doncic thrived in contact with his 6-foot-7 frame and buoyed his step back 3-point shooting motion with leg strength.
And he knew Doncic wasn’t interested in polishing those skills through daily monotonous, individualistic workouts.
“If I give him a long practice,” Macek said, “he will be bored.”
So everything became a game.
Could Doncic win Spikeball for agility warm-ups?
How long could Doncic hold a plank position?
Did Doncic do as many reps as others in the gym?
Macek would often encourage him: “If you do it like this, you’ll be the best one.”
“When he hears ‘the best one,’ he will do the best results,” Macek said. “It’s just funny, but this makes sense with him.”
Little has changed since.
After a Mavericks workout this week, still sweaty from dominating 3-point shooting contests, Doncic smiled when asked about a rumor saying he’s moving faster.
“It’s fact,” Doncic said with a laugh. “For sure. Ask the guys who have been in practice.”
