Luka was born on February 28, 1999 in Ljubljana. For his family, sports held a special place. His father, Sasha Doncic, was a professional basketball player and coach, while his mother, Mirjam Poterbin, ran hurdles.
Doncic was drawn to sports from a young age. He loved to play not only basketball, but also soccer.
At the age of 8, he received an offer from a local club, Olympia. At the time, his father had transferred to its main team, so this offer was expected. After a 16-minute preview, Luka decided to transfer to the 11-year-old group because his game stood out too much from his peers.
Doncic’s progress spoke for itself, a year later he was promoted to the Under 14 group. Luka spent 5 years at Olympia. His head coach and mentor was Gernjej Smolnikar who cared not only about basketball development but also about education.
Doncic himself recalls, “I remember once getting a bad grade at school and Zernay forbade me to practice as punishment! So then I had only good grades – I wanted to play!”
He got stronger and stronger, and attracted Real Madrid scouts, who took him on loan until 2012. There he led the team to second place in the Minicopa Endesa Under-14 tournament and won the MVP award.
The Madrid club signed 13-year-old Luka Doncic with high expectations. He was considered a child prodigy since childhood, but his main feature was his modesty and desire to develop in stages.
Once he got into Real Madrid’s core at the age of 15, he began to learn from the club’s leaders, Sergio Ulloa and Sergio Rodriguez. There really was a lot to see.
Soon Doncic was in the main rotation, dunking and making three-pointers and assists against the European stars.
The culmination of his career in Europe and a display of all the genius was the 2017-2018 season. First, he won the 2017 EuroBasket with the Slovenian national team, then won the 2018 Euroleague with Real Madrid, won the MVP of the Final Four and on top of that won the season MVP award at the age of 19! It was clear at that point that he had tremendous potential as an NBA player.
His early development had led to some skepticism about his play overseas. Many people thought he was developing too early and that he just might not be able to play at the highest level. But for some reason no one took into account that unlike American college and university players, Doncic was already playing with men who were twice his age, if not more, at age 15.
In the 2018 draft, Luka was selected at No. 3 by the Atlanta Hawks, but was traded to Dallas. The entire basketball world couldn’t wait for him to get on the court. On one side or the other, everyone was interested in his game. Some were in anticipation of failure, others of incredible growth.
What was the disappointment of the naysayers when the 20-year-old Slovenian finished the 2018-2019 season with 21.2 points, 6 assists and 7.8 rebounds averaging 32.2 minutes per game and receiving the Rookie of the Year award.
In his second season, Luka Doncic is averaging 28.7 points, 8.7 assists and 9.3 rebounds per game. Not surprisingly, the young Slovenian is in the top 5 for the season MVP award.
Luka is often compared to LeBron, and Kendrick Perkins has even called Doncic a child version of James, with less athleticism. He’s not the fastest player, but he doesn’t need to be. Luca has incredible body control and court vision, and he’s never afraid of an opponent and always ready to put up a fight.
By the age of 20, he has enough elite-level moves in his arsenal. Doncic’s step-back is already being compared to Harden’s step-back. You can watch our breakdown of the move.
He’s willing to pass the ball anywhere on the floor and do it effectively, but he’s also willing to play effectively if the situation calls for it.
He plays more than he thinks. “If you think too much, you don’t play as well. But when you’re not thinking, you have fun and you just play basketball. Most of my best games were played when I was just getting high.”