Does Doncic Playing for Slovenia Hurt Mavs?

Over the past two seasons, Luka Doncic has shown up to camp overweight. Could playing for his national team be taking a toll?

Luka Doncic appears to in the best shape of his Dallas Mavericks career this summer.

That's a far cry from last year, when Doncic faced criticism for showing up to training camp weighing 260, about 30 pounds more than normal. In December, the 6-7 guard admitted that he "relax a little bit, maybe too much." 

Dallas started out 17-18. Doncic was averaging just 22.5 points on 42.7 percent shooting in October. 

One concern was his load management. After losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2021 playoffs, Doncic headed straight to Slovenia for the national team's training camp. 

Could playing for his national team be hurting the Mavs? 

ESPN's Tim MacMahon doesn't believe so, as this offseason could prove.

“Deep into September, right into training camp, he's not going to report to training camp at 260 plus for the third straight year,” MacMahon said. "Certainly that can benefit the Mavs.”

This international season, Doncic is averaging 28.4 points and 9.1 rebounds for Slovenia. On Wednesday, he scored 34 points on 55-percent shooting in an overtime game against Nikola Jokic and Serbia. 

Last week, Doncic helped Slovenia overcome another overtime thriller, as he dropped in 23 points and 10 rebounds against Turkey. 

"The Mavericks have realized that there's definitely a pretty significant silver lining to him playing Eurobasket,” MacMahon said. “[Slovenia] will get in game shape Luka at the start of the season." 

Over the summer, Mark Cuban tweeted support for his three-time all-star playing for his country.

Nothing better than a nice warm up W https://t.co/HSJdaRBaew

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 25, 2022

Like it or not, Doncic's heart will always reside in Slovenia. Luka has "made it clear when Slovenia's national team has games of any sort of importance he’ll be there.”

Doncic will look to continue Slovenia's winning streak next week, as the team takes on Estonia in a friendly on Thursday.