The Los Angeles Lakers are looking forward to what they hope will be a prosperous 2025-26 NBA season with a newly slimmed-down Luka Doncic leading the charge. Doncic signed an extension with the Lakers earlier this summer, shortly after new photos revealed that he had lost considerable weight since the Lakers' 2024-25 season ended vs the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Doncic has recently been taking part in some games for his native Slovenia as part of the EuroBasket tournament and earlier this week, one fan took to X, formerly Twitter, to describe their friendly exchange with the star at a gas station.

“This morning. Slovenian service station. My friends and I go in to refill our Lasko beer. At the bar, there's a very tall guy in slippers. He's drinking coffee. He's with another man. I look closer. It's Doncic,” wrote the fan on X, formerly Twitter (via Vishwesha Kumar of Fadeaway World).

“I almost didn't recognize him with 33 pounds less: he's so ripped. I say, ‘Luka!' and he smiles. He waves me out. In the parking lot, he says hello to me and my friends. He takes pictures with everyone,” continued the fan.

The fan also addressed the recent injury scare that Doncic suffered, writing, “He says his injury in the friendly isn't serious and that he's super pumped for the European Championship…”

Overall, it's certainly a positive sign for Lakers fans as they hope for a healthy 2025-26 campaign from their team.

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A big year for the Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half during game three of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Target Center.
Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

This will be the first year in LeBron James' career that he is entering the season clearly not the best player on his team, a distinction that belongs to the 26 year-old phenom Doncic, whom the Lakers shockingly acquired from the Mavericks last season.

With Doncic seemingly in the best shape of his career, Los Angeles should be able to close out some of the close games they lost last year due to running out of gas down the stretch, which could vault them into contender status in the Western Conference.

In any case, the Lakers' 2025-26 season is slated to begin on October 21 at home against the Golden State Warriors.