NBA Draft 2018: Luka Dončić unlikely to play in Las Vegas Summer League

Following today’s press conference to introduce new Dallas Mavericks Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon had the following report:

For those familiar with Dončić this should not be a surprise. Between FIBA play, Eurobasket, and ACB league games, Dončić has played over 150 professional basketball games the last two seasons. Tracking the contests game by game, he’s been playing basketball continuously for the last 18 months.

Part of his late draft stock tumble can in part be linked to concerns about his conditioning and how he took care of himself, but when a player is this young and playing this many games, it’s really a shock he’s played as well as he did the last few months. The Mavericks are probably anxious to get Dončić into their strength and conditioning program while also letting him have legitimate time away from competitive games.

It’s disappointing in some respect, because we’re all very excited to see Dončić play in a Maverick uniform. This could change in the next two weeks, particularly given Dončić’s competitive nature, but with the investment the Mavericks made in Luka, it’s extremely unlikely.