Shortly after Luka Doncic was drafted, he had a chance to pick the brain of an NBA great.
Doncic’s most renowned moment with Kobe Bryant came just a few weeks before the Los Angeles Lakers legend’s death, when Bryant heckled Doncic in Slovenian during a game against the Lakers. But Doncic indicated this week that that’s actually not the first time he had interacted with Bryant.
During an appearance on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and the Three,” Doncic shared the story behind an interaction with Bryant shortly after getting drafted.
“It was in Portland just after I was drafted,” Doncic said. “We were at the Nike campus, he was there and the one advice he gave me was ‘Watch out, they’re going to go after you because you’re from Europe. They’re going to try to go after you.’ And it was true.”
Sounds like Bryant was subtly giving Doncic a heads up that he’d be chirping him down the road.
Doncic clearly has heeded the advice of Bryant, though. The Dallas Mavericks star has since blossomed into one of the NBA’s top players, although he continues to work on repairing his relationship with the referees.
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