Luka Doncic: From Madrid Junior Star to Dallas Mavericks Sensation

Luka Doncic poses as a Dallas Mavericks player (EFE/Adam Davis)

Legend has it that it all started on any given day in 2012, at the Valle de las Cañas Sports Center in the Madrid town of Pozuelo de Alarcón. In the old headquarters of the Real Madrid basketball section, Luka Doncic appeared for the first time in the Spanish capital. A Slovenian talent of just 12-13 years old who, over time, would end up becoming one of the great stars ever and ever to be in the merengue team. Someone who now returns home for ‘summer’, in the ranks of the Dallas Mavericks of an NBA that definitively elevated him to the top of the world basket. A finish line that was already in sight for him, with the reservations that one must have when faced with children with facial features, a little over a decade ago.

“I directed the session and those responsible for the section were watching the training. We did realize that we had a very special player in front of us. We saw that he was someone who was far above the team we had,” says José Luis Pichel, one of Doncic’s first coaches in Madrid, when describing that kind of baptism for Infobae Spain. Superior to the members of his generation from minute one, he burned through stages as a youth player in a dizzying manner: titles, insulting dominance and individual recognitions both in the category that corresponded to him by age and in the one immediately above. A trend that never stopped repeating itself, because that was how predestined the kid was to break it.

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This precocity of the Slovenian is corroborated at all times, with the first information provided to this newspaper, by Dani de la Rúa, Luka’s teammate and friend as a result of his training in the Madrid youth ranks: “They told us that a boy was going to come new, who was two years younger than us.” The current point guard of the Sant Antoni Bàsquet Club of LEB Plata (Spanish third category) remembers someone “very embarrassing, but very kind.” Because Doncic was also a player off the court.

Luka Doncic, in his first tournament with Real Madrid: the 2012 Mini Cup.

“He cared a lot about making sure everyone was well: colleagues, staff… That attracted a lot of attention. “He had a very high talent for taking care of everyone around him,” says Pichel. Of course, things flowed even more on the track: “Things happened. When he was playing, even some of his rivals would stand around and watch during the game. They made me want to say ‘come on, guys, let’s play.’ I mean, it’s very good, but we’re all going to continue playing.’ It happened in training, it happened in games. There was even a point of surprise from the rival players. “That happened on a day-to-day basis.”

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Since he arrived, the boy undoubtedly had a special aura. “Above all, that ability to see things a little before others and execute them with great precision. That situation is a bit innate. What time is like when he plays, outside of a different speed than the others,” points out his former coach. By the way, not even losing marbles, so characteristic of athletes, also came as standard. “He got angry whenever he lost in the Play: until he won, we weren’t finished playing,” emphasizes De la Rúa, who became close to Doncic by spending countless times together. Many, so that Luka could defeat the morriña, in the Guadalajara man’s house.

Time passed and the pearl’s shine continued to gain intensity. “The physical change each summer,” because “every year it came bigger,” had a great impact. To the physique it was necessary to add a talent fertilized with imperishable amazement. “Every day, he was a better player and he saw basketball that no one saw so young,” highlights De la Rúa. A reality that transcended, as it soon became clear, the Spanish borders.

“He was a player who wasn’t followed by Pablo Laso, it’s that the entire world of basketball followed him. They came to see him, from a very young age, from all over the world,” Pichel confesses. The current assistant coach of Clavijo of LEB Oro (Spanish second division) does not forget a cadet tournament in Italy, where he saw “a very great exhibition of someone who transcended the game.” For his part, De la Rúa is left with a final of the Spanish Junior Championship in which Doncic “made a rating of 62.” “He scored points, he distributed assists… It was a real spectacle,” he completes.

Real Madrid, champion of the 2015 Junior Euroleague (Euroleague)

Perhaps it was precisely as juniors, in a squad in which they were accompanied by Santi Yusta, Jonathan Barreiro, Emanuel Cate and Felipe Dos Anjos, among others, when, in 2015, the two enjoyed themselves like never before: “It was an unforgettable season, I think everyone We did our bit and we were not individually selfish. But each game was something different. “He improved his three-point shot a lot.” Next, the story of the boy who “always came with a smile and a desire to learn and enjoy” is well known: a leap to professionalism alongside the Madrid first team, with which he ended up dominating Europe.

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Doncic graduated at the high level after just three courses. Of course, full of achievements. Collectively, one Euroleague, three ACB, two Copas del Rey and one Intercontinental Cup. Personally, an MVP of the Euroleague and its Final Four and another of the ACB were his greatest achievements. When he crossed the pond, Wonderboy only had to storm planetary stardom: there was little doubt, almost none, that he would achieve it.

“He is a player who has no limits. What I didn’t expect was that he would do it so quickly. These years, the best version of him is coming,” warns, before the reunion with the WiZink Center this Tuesday, a Dani De la Rúa who has not lost contact with Doncic. Whom, like the rest of those who made up ‘his’ junior in Madrid, he will always consider “a brother”: “We were a great family.”

An affection that José Luis Pichel does not escape either. “Somehow, I won the lottery, I won a prize. I was in the right place, at the right time. I have been lucky enough to be able to coach, in his early stages, one of the best players in the world. I would dare to say that one of the best athletes, in his specialty, in the world. So, that’s a gift that I enjoyed as much as I could. And that, of course, is what I take away,” he says.

Luka Doncic, recognized as “ambassador” of the Community of Madrid (EFE/ Aitor Martín)

Without them, and many other characters, Luka Doncic’s love affair with Madrid would have been impossible. One that is still very much alive and will have its celebration in style, five years later, on Goya Street. Where he was so happy and where he returns, he has earned it hard, as a prodigal son.

2023-10-10 04:00:00
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