Luka Doncic is on a mission to win his first NBA championship, as the Slovenian superstar alongside LeBron James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ season came to a sour end during the first round of the playoffs.
The 26-years-old guard put up historic numbers through his first two NBA seasons, producing one of the best starts to a career the league has ever seen. He stands as a prime example of the rich reservoir of talent Europe has often contributed to the league.
His awe-inspiring journey from the heart of Slovenia to the grand stage of American basketball has made him one of Europe’s premier NBA exports, but that has not translated into a Larry O’Brien Trophy, with his best opportunity coming with his former team, the Dallas Mavericks.
Luka tells LeBron how a coach made him cry
Luka Doncic sat down with his Los Angeles Lakers teammate, NBA superstar LeBron James, as well as former league MVP and basketball coach Steve Nash for a conversation about basketball, life, and the new challenges as a part of a team called Showtime.
Doncic talked about a moment that changed the way he viewed basketball, when he was a teenager playing for one of EuroLeague‘s best team, Real Madrid. Luka joined the franchise at only 13, and he made his professional debut at 16, becoming the youngest debutant in the team’s history.
“It was quarterfinals or round 16. We were up at like 30 at halftime, but I was bull— a little bit. (The coach) yelled at me. He made me cry. But I said like, this coach like changed a little bit of how I view basketball and like during the time. Like that year, I think we didn’t lose the game, and we won the finals by 30 points. I think everybody needs it. To be a really good player, you need that guy who’ll tell everything. Especially the coach. I love him for that, that he did that for me.”
A center piece for Slovenian basketball
Luka Doncic‘s contributions extend beyond the hardwoods of the NBA. He remains an integral part of the Slovenian national basketball team, despite the demanding schedule of the NBA. In 2017, he guided Slovenia to a historic gold medal at the FIBA EuroBasket tournament.
Luka also represented Slovenia on the Olympic stage when his country made its inaugural appearance in men’s basketball at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics finishing fourth, narrowly missing the podium. In an intense semi-final clash against favourite France, they succumbed by a single point (90-89). Luka averaged over 23 points per game during the tournament.
“It’s unbelievable; a country of two million people being top four in the world. We really achieved a lot by just going to the Olympics; it was our first time in history here. It’s incredible,” he commented after the tournament.
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