The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Reaction to Luka Doncic extension w/ Lakers, how it impacts LeBron James + Men's Health cover story

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

Jason reacts to Luka Doncic signing a reported three-year, $165 million extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, why he would do it, and what it means for the team going forward with Luka and LeBron James. Then he discusses the Men's Health magazine profile on Luka's diet, strength, and conditioning. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHard.

Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. Welcome to Hoops Tonight here at The Volume. I hope all you guys are having a great week so far. We want to dig a little bit into the Luca Donchich extension today. It's being widely reported that Luca is about to sign a extension. I want to dig into that. Some of the specifics of him kind of taking a bet on the Lakers and why I think he's making

that bet. And then after that, there was a men's health article that released earlier where Luca was shown in pictures looking very, very good. Look, he was in great shape like he had trimmed a considerable amount of body fat that he had put on a good amount of muscle. A lot of interesting details about the specific ways that he went about fixing or kind of curating a better body for the NBA season. We're going to talk about that and some of the things that I expect from Luca Donchich this season. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.

Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. Then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. We're doing a lot of mailbags geared around the player rankings list. If you have anything that you disagree with on the player rankings list, drop those questions in the comments. and we'll get to him in our mailbags throughout the remainder of the summer.

All right, let's talk some basketball. So, again, it's being widely reported that Luca is about to sign a four-year, $229 million extension with the Lakers. We also saw the release of a piece in men's health magazine about Luca's off-season regimen, just how in shape he has become in the early part of the NBA off-season. We're going to take some time to hit both of those. Let's start with the new deal. This was a remarkable vote of confidence that Luca Donchich has placed in the last

Angeles Lakers. To put it nicely, the Lakers front office and ownership group have failed to demonstrate any sort of coherent basketball philosophy since Jerry Buss passed away. To put it less nicely, they have grossly underachieved in LeBron and Anthony Davis era. And that's saying something considering they literally won a championship. But outside of that one championship season, it's been a shit show of self-sabotage, a gross undervaluing of role-player talent, a mismanaging of assets, both picks and players, and allowed a team that had two clear-cut top 10 players to go four of the following five seasons after the championship without a single playoff series victory, four of the five seasons after they won the title.

The Lakers have not done anything to deserve this type of vote of confidence from Luca Donchich. So the question is, why did Luca choose to lock in with Los Angeles anyway? I think it's a combination of three factors. First of all, Luca seems like many of the European players out there to be fiercely loyal to those who are loyal to him. I'm not sure that he'll ever demand a trade in his career or ever even leave Los Angeles. Los Angeles unless they were literally unwilling to keep him. Like if they wanted to trade him or if they refused to give him another deal, I think those would be the only scenarios where he would leave Los Angeles.

Secondly, the Lakers brand is frankly just so strong that it can overcome a good amount of the weaknesses in the Lakers leadership core. And thirdly, the new ownership group will likely dramatically increase the financial capabilities of the franchise and will hopefully, over the coming. years, get rid of much of that parochial, foolish, family-style business practice that the Lakers have engaged in and that has plagued the team in previous years. In other words, I think Luka is a fiercely loyal guy who is making a bet that the new Lakers, under new ownership, will be better than the Lakers of old.

And I do think he's making the right bet there. I was just surprised he decided to commit so soon. But the upside for him is obviously he gets financial security. And the upside for the Lakers is that they can firmly build a plan based on a long-term commitment from Luca. Which brings me to the men's health article. There were a lot of interesting elements that I want to get into regarding that article. Nothing says summer like long days, clutch plays,

and firing off a few bets on the game, all with Draft King Sportsbook. As the season heats up, so do the bats. And Draft King's sportsbook has you covered with live betting, home run props, odds, boosts, and more. Whether you're chasing dingers or jumping in midgame, there's always action to be had. Never bet on baseball before, it's easy. Pick a guy to go yard. Hammer some live odds midgame or just ride your squad and hope for the best.

No spreadsheets, just vibes and dingers. My favorite guys to watch are always Aaron Judge and Shoheyot, especially if you're betting home run props. Here's something special for first-timers. New Draft King's customers bet five. and get $150 in bonus bets instantly. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S. That's code hoops for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets instantly

when you bet just $5. Only on Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 180-Gambler. In New York, call 8778 Hope N-Y or text Hope N-Y to 4-67-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill, Casino, and Resort in Kansas. 21-plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario. New customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.c.c.O. slash audio. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call.

changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went.

I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. First of all, it just made me very excited. I'm not treading any exclusive ground here. I'm not the only guy who's been saying this, but I've been preaching about Lucas conditioning for years, specifically because I knew he was leaving legitimate meat on the bone and who he was as a basketball player. and I just wanted to see him reaches of an individual ceiling. I wanted to see what it looked like. And I think there's a good chance that in this coming season,

we see far and away the best version of Luca that we've ever seen. Secondly, some of the specifics that I wanted to get into from the article. Getting right in the kitchen. Luca's basically doing intermittent fasting. He doesn't eat after 8.30 p.m. And he doesn't have his first meal the following day until he's finished his morning workout. So he's going like 12-hour chunks every day where he's not eating.

And then he's massively protein loading in the windows of time when he is eating. He's having over 250 grams of protein per day, according to the article that we all got to read. This area, the kitchen, is where the damage is done for every human, let alone professional athletes that are struggling to keep the weight off. It is so easy to pile extra calories in your diet, whether it be from snacking or from drinking alcohol or anything along those lines. Like, I recently was having some issues with my weight. When I was playing basketball in college, I was typically between 220 and 225. And then in my post-college time playing,

I've been able to kind of keep it around 225 to 230. But I had a stretch recently where, like, I was consistently between 235 and 240. I was too heavy. And like, there was a play in a mensly game a few weeks back where someone threw me a lob on a backdoor cut, a play that I used to dunk every single time. sometimes dunk reverse two hands over my head and I like couldn't get it over the rim.

And I was like, God damn. I'm legitimately like just playing with a big weight jacket on it. Right. And I had no one to blame but myself because I had some really bad snacking habits during that phase. I was just like I would consume an extra like six or seven thousand calories a week in just doing a ton of snacking before bed. It was just stupid. It was like I was putting myself in a position where it didn't matter how many times I was working out. I was going to F.S. 45, four or five times a week. I was playing pickup four or five times a week. I was doing shooting workouts. Didn't matter because I was just consuming all these completely unnecessary calories. I moved up to Denver with my wife last week. And as part of the move, we cut out our nighttime

snacking. And I dropped all of that weight immediately and came back at like, when I got back to Tucson the other day, I was like 229 after being consistently 237, 238 for a long time. The point is, the kitchen is where the damage is done. I've seen people go, like, I've seen people with F-45 where they're like, oh, I've done F-45, and I don't feel like I'm seeing any change in my body. And it's like, well, what are you doing in the kitchen? Like, that, that's really where the damage is done when it comes to your ability to maintain your weight. I just thought it, it's just really fascinating for me to read that in that article. And it just makes a ton of sense to me that Luca's journey to better conditioning and better fitness started

in the kitchen. And then thirdly, how will Luca look differently as a basketball player this year if the story is true and he is in far in far and away the best shape that he's ever been in his life. The biggest thing will be his overall durability. The on court stuff will be like a mixed bag. I want to get into that in a minute. There's going to be certain things that I think will look different, certain things that I think will look the same. And a lot of it depends on his strength training, which we'll get into in a minute. But I think by far, the biggest thing we'll see with Luca is just him being more durable. I talked about this with Jamal Murray. When you come into the season out of shape and you play your way into shape, you pick up all these like little nagging injuries

and bits of inflammation that become a problem down the line even when you do drop the weight. And in each of the last two postseason runs, Luca went in kind of limping with a bulky knee. But a big part of that is he's playing with all of this extra weight, which means extra wear and tear, and that accumulates over the course of the season. I think we're going to see Luca, if he comes into camp in great shape, just simply be able to avoid more of the nagging injuries. there are certain things that are out of his control. He has an ankle sprain.

It doesn't matter how good a shape you're in. An ankle sprain's an ankle sprain, right? Like if he has some sort of injury that's related to contact, that sort of thing is out of his control. But I think we're going to see fewer of the soft tissue, kind of like limpy, gimpy type of stuff that we saw with Luke over the last couple of years just simply because he's in better shape

and is better equipped to handle the grind of the NBA season. Now on court, like I said, it's going to be a little bit of a mixed bag in my opinion. I think Luca's immense size was a tool for him sometimes, specifically against thinner defenders. So if he drops too much weight, I could see him struggling more against some of like the Jaden McDaniels types of defenders out there, the really lanky defenders. So I'm not saying that's going to happen. I'm just saying a big thing that I'll be looking for with him is how much of his weight is he replacing with functional muscle. mass.

Because if he's only like 10 pounds lighter, but he's in incredibly good physical shape and he's carrying a bunch of extra muscle mass, he'll be bullying people more, not less. But if he comes in super skinny, he'll be quicker, obviously, but then he'll have some issues with certain types of physical defenders. Either way, though, he should be quicker. A quicker, uh, Luca Doncha should lead to several immediate populations. positive impacts. The big one I was thinking about was his ability to dance on the perimeter with slower players, like centers. Iso-wing centers and switches is a huge part of the way

Luca plays offense. He should be profoundly more effective attacking bigs and switches than what he was like when he was a bigger, like a bigger tubbier guy. That should make him a better offensive player. He should be able to turn drives and gaps that he hits into more attempts right at the rim, more dunks, more layups. On defense, he should be far more capable of sliding his feet laterally, keeping drivers in front. He's coming off of two consecutive playoff series where that was a massive problem for him. So hopefully he can turn that improved quickness into being a more staunch perimeter defender.

Again, I am going to keep my eye on his strength. I want to see how strong he is when he comes in. I would imagine he'll come in strong, not just smaller. And again, turning useless weight into functional weight serves no purpose other than to make him a much better basketball player. That is the goal of all of this. If he drops weight without replacing it with functional muscle mass, then he's just made himself smaller, right?

That's one of the things that I'm going to be curious to see. The bottom line is this, this whole endeavor could be the difference between Luca being just another superstar in this league and maybe the only guy in the NBA who's capable of giving Nicole Yokic a run for his money. I think he's the only guy who has the ability to do that this season. I don't think Chey Gildos Alexander has that ability. I don't think Janice and Tenacumpo has that ability. I think we're a year or two away from Wembe or Anthony Edwards making any real headway on the top tier.

Luca is genuinely capable of unseating Yokic. It doesn't mean he will, but he's definitely capable. but in order to get to that point, he has to be in peak physical condition. And it looks as though he's finally taking the necessary steps to get into that direction. I'm very excited about it. And we'll definitely be covering Eurobasket later this summer just as an opportunity to see how Luca looks. That's in late August. I'm very excited about that specifically.

And I should be in town for that. But again, when I saw that article this morning, I was like, man, like Luke is ahead of schedule. And he's got months still to get ready for the season. I'm super excited to see what Apex Luca looks like. All right, guys, it's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back later in the next couple of days with more player rankings. I will see you guys.

Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions. because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? One city, a divided country and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patril all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything.

Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.