Luka Doncic is one of the best talents in the world of basketball right now, doing impressive things with his Dallas Mavericks, leading the team to compete in a stacked Western Conference and putting some pressure on one of the favorites to the title, the Los Angeles Clippers, during the first round of the playoffs. Luka is only 21 but he has taken the world by storm and that doesn’t seem to stop anytime soon.
It took a lot for people to realize they were in front of generational talent, but Goran Dragic knew this kid was going to be great since he was even younger. They played together for Slovenia in 2017, winning the EuroBasket championship against all odds. Dragic took that opportunity to warn the world about Doncic, who was set to enter the NBA draft.
“He’s going to be the best player in Europe in a couple of years, trust me on that. In the NBA, too,” explained Dragic. “He’s a born winner. I’m not kidding. He already has a lot of trophies, medals, and I’m really happy for him.
“Mark my words, he’s going to be one of the best in the whole world.”
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Now, three years later, Doncic is one of the future faces of the league, leading his team to be a threat to anybody in the West. Luka has proven his doubters wrong and the Mavs can’t be happier about it. Things haven’t changed for Dragic, who still has high praise for his young friend.
“You know, with Luka, even we were playing Europe basketball, he was always having fun,” Dragic recently said on ‘The Woj Pod’ podcast. “That’s one thing that, you know, even in the clutch moments, he was always smiling. He never feels the pressure. Never. It’s something that amazed me. He never feels the pressure. He always comes there like he’s outside with his friends playing a pickup game. That’s how he’s playing and why he’s so successful because, you know, he’s got that confidence that he can do whatever he thinks.”
Full audio of Goran Dragic on Woj Pod: https://t.co/kbppB9EMHS pic.twitter.com/gA4HrJdnYK
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 14, 2020
He also revealed that it was during their team with the Slovenian national that he realized Doncic was meant for greatness.
“To see a young, 17, 18 year-old-player who is not afraid..and let’s say, for example, the game against Latvia. He played pick and roll, and Porzingis switched on him, and he just took the ball and said ‘Hey spread out, I’m gonna play him one-on-one’. And I was like woah, woah, this is it’. He went right at Porzingis, scored on him and gave him that look. And I said, ‘oh man, this kid is going to be something special’.”
A lot of people doubted Doncic; they said he wasn’t going to be good in the NBA regardless of how well he did it in Europe, that he wasn’t that athletic and many more things.
Well, the 21-year-old has shocked the world and now is one of the best two or three young players in the league. Dragic knew it. He tried to warn everybody but the Mavericks were the only ones who paid attention, apparently.
