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Dallas Mavericks All-Star Luka Doncic showed up to the American Airlines Arena donning a Miami Dolphins hoodie before the Mavericks took on the Miami Heat. Doncic was also spotted wearing the hoodie during the Mavericks’ shootaround.
Looks like Luka got some Miami wear while in town 👀👀👀
The hoodie could possibly be a birthday present to himself being that today is Doncic’s 21st birthday. The Dallas Mavericks are currently on a four-game road trip, which started on Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavericks would go on and beat the Spurs 109-103 on Wednesday night.
On Thursday night Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reported that he heard that there would 2,500 Slovenian fans in attendance on Friday night.
“I’m hearing Heat officials expect 2,500 Slovenian fans, 15 Slovenian and 3 Serbian and 2 Spanish journalists, for tomorrow night,” Townsend tweeted. It looks like we’ll have Doncic-Dragic Sloveniamania II tomorrow night. Last year’s March 28 game was absolutely electric.
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Goran Dragic Weighs-in on Luka Doncic
Before the Miami Heat took on the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night in Miami, Heat guard Goran Dragic shared that he knew Luka Doncic was special at a young age. He also shared that he was impressed with Doncic and is playing at an MVP level.
“I knew Luka when he was 5 or 6. I played with his dad. He was the ballboy. He’s special. I’m really impressed. I knew what he could achieve, but not so quickly. He’s playing at an MVP level. It’s always nice to see Luka and talk smack.”
Heat G Goran Dragic of Slovenia on Luka: “I knew Luka when he was 5 or 6. I played with his dad. He was the ballboy. He’s special. I’m really impressed. I knew what he could achieve, but not so quickly. He’s playing at an MVP level. It’s always nice to see Luka and talk smack.”
Doncic is averaging 28.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game this season. Dragic is averaging 16.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in 47 games for the Miami Heat. Dragic is not the only one that feels Doncic is playing on an MVP level. Chris Paul agrees with the 11-year pro and former All-Star.
Earlier this season, Oklahoma Thunder guard and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul share with me that Doncic ‘Absolutely’ deserves MVP consideration.
Absolutely, it’s warranted,” said Paul.
“I think the coolest things when you see a really good player, see how their teammates are around them. And you see he has the respect from his teammates, so they want to give him the ball, and they want him to screen for him, and they like playing with him. So, that’s bigger than the numbers.”
ESPN’s Rachel Nichols share with me earlier this season what she notices from year one to year two from Luka Doncic.
“Obviously phenomenal and it’s funny, I just did an interview with him and he was saying he was even surprised the leap he has been able to make. But, one thing he noted was this past summer was the first summer he was able to put in a substantive amount of work,” said Nichols.
“If you think about the summer before played in the NBA and the Europe League Championship came over got drafted it was all a whirlwind went back to Slovenia and came back here. Don’t have as much time with the Mavericks staff or just, in general, to work on his game. Once the NBA season was over, he was just able to focus on working on basketball and we are all seeing the results.”
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