About

Fat Luka Dončić refers to internet discourse and memes about Los Angeles Lakers player Luka Dončić being overweight. The idea led to a series of Photoshop and AI edits of Dončić as an obese man. Concerns about Dončić's weight surfaced en masse when he was traded to the Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks in early 2025. Mavericks management cited the player's weight as a factor in the trade. Fat Luka memes surfaced again when the LA Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

Origin

In December 2020, then-Dallas Mavericks player Luka Dončić was facing concerns over his weight.^[1] Memes about him being overweight surfaced en masse for the first time. One of the earliest memes was shared by the Facebook^[2] page NBA Memes on December 22nd, showing a photoshop edit of an overweight Dončić, captioned, "In shape or out of shape this dude will drop 30 on your team," gaining over 3,500 reactions in five years (shown below).

Spread

In the following years, the discourse about Luka Dončić being overweight continued to gain attention on social media.

For instance, on January 27th, 2022, Twitter / X ^[3] user @hejtweeter tweeted, "Luka fatass 6’9” 300lbs and they couldn't sneak him in as a frontcourt player," gaining over 1,600 likes in three years (shown below).

On May 15th, 2024, Redditor saucysaggie shared a meme to the /r/nbacirclejerk^[4] subreddit, which was an edited NBA highlights YouTube video thumbnail that showed Luka Dončić and Denver Nuggets player Nikola Jokić as fatter versions of themselves. The Redditor captioned it, "We are so close," gaining over 8,600 upvotes in 11 months (shown below).

Memes about Luka Dončić being overweight surfaced en masse when he was traded to the LA Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks in early February 2025. Mavericks general manager (GM) Nico Harrison said that Dončić weighed 270 pounds, adding, "I believe that defense wins championships."^[5]

On February 2nd, X^[7] user @milehighami quote-tweeted a post from In-And-Out, attaching an image of a burger combo, captioned, "Luka's first triple double in LA," gaining over 133,000 likes in three months (shown below).

Some NBA fans pushed back on the idea, like X^[6] user @big_business_ who quote-tweeted a video of Dončić walking off a plane on February 3rd, 2025, writing, "That man is not 270, we need to know the real reason why Luka Doncic got traded," gaining over 129,000 likes in three months (shown below).

That man is not 270, we need to know the real reason why Luka Doncic got traded https://t.co/iMdkVAiHdg

— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) February 3, 2025

On April 30th, 2025, the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the LA Lakers 4-1 in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.^[8] Memes about Dončić's weight surfaced en masse soon after, like in a tweet shared by X^[9] user @HaterReport_ on May 1st. It included a Druski Dancing meme with Dončić overlayed with ViggleAI, captioned, "Luka Doncic walking into the nearest buffet after getting eliminated from the Playoffs," gaining over 26,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Luka Doncic walking into the nearest buffett after getting eliminated from the Playoffs

pic.twitter.com/ed9nKIIon3

— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) May 1, 2025

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References