Luka Doncic and LeBron James grew close after unexpectedly becoming teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers, although they obviously still have a lot to learn about each other.
They got the chance to do that though with James’ “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash announcing that Doncic will be a guest on Sunday’s episode.
In a conversation that will likely include a variety of topics, Doncic touched on his upbringing and how he fell in love with basketball despite playing a bunch of other sports, via the “Mind the Game” podcast:
“Well for me, I wasn’t good at any other sports. Except soccer, I was not like you, but (OK). I was playing a lot of other sports, tennis, soccer and basketball were the main ones. I played volleyball, so for me it was just fun to do sports. And then I went outside, after school I went outside every time and played basketball… Anything, but mostly basketball.”
Luka’s dad Sasa Doncic was a professional basketball player and coach in Europe, so he explained how he got hooked on basketball from a young age:
“Yeah, for sure. I went to his games and I started being the ballboy… In Euroleague games, I was ballboy for Olympia. So that’s how I used my time to just get on basketball. They let us play before the game, halftime and after the game. I was just shooting.”
Doncic was extremely talented from a young age with a rare combination of size and skill, which he likely developed while playing constantly at his dad’s games. Luka made his professional debut for Real Madrid at age 16 and was eventually selected third overall by the Dallas Mavericks when he came over to the NBA in 2018.
Now 26 years of age, Doncic is already one of the most accomplished European players in NBA history with a Rookie of the Year, five First Team All-NBAs, five All-Stars and one NBA Finals appearance on his resume.
JJ Redick wants to bring out best version of Luka Doncic
The Lakers brought Luka Doncic over in a blockbuster trade to lead them into their next era, hopefully getting back to winning championships. In order for that to happen then Doncic will need to be at his best, which head coach JJ Redick hopes to bring out of him.
“I was only in Dallas for two and a half months. We both had an immediate bond to each other despite our age difference, despite he wasn’t a father then, I had two kids,” Redick noted about his relationship with Doncic. “We’ve kept in touch, we’ve spent a little bit of time together in the last three years so I think that bond that was already there gave us a great starting point as a player-coach.
“I think our first conversation when flew into LA that night, he wants to be coached, he wants to be held accountable. He’s expressed to me and what I’ve expressed to him is very similar, I want to bring out the best version of Luka and that’s what he wants from me. And so that’s the partnership going forward, that’s the expectation and that’s sort of the baseline of what we’re trying to do. Lets try to bring out the best version of Luka, and hopefully win a championship doing that.”
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