Culture / Sporting Life

Luka Doncic Hobnobs With Obama, Shouts Out Nick & Sam’s and Gets Robbed at NBA All-Star Weekend

Mavs' Star Happily Munches Popcorn on Bench During 4th Quarter Slight

BY // 02.17.20

Luka Doncic treated NBA All-Star Weekend like it should be treated. As a giant reason to party and have a great time. No one seemed to embrace the NBA’s version of Coachella with more fervor than the 20-year-0ld Slovenian who’s changed everything for the Dallas Mavericks.

Doncic did a little bit of everything — and then some — in cold Chicago. He enjoyed face time with Barack Obama, with the former president seeking him out at an NBA Cares charity event. He hit a half court shot in the Rising Stars game Friday night. He gave a shoutout to Nick & Sam’s steakhouse in a live national TV interview on TNT when asked how he spends his free time in Dallas. And he ate popcorn on the bench during the fourth quarter of the actual NBA All-Star Game Sunday night.

OK, about that fourth quarter.

Yes, Doncic definitely should have been out there playing instead of bemusedly munching arena snacks watching. It’s something of an NBA fail that one of the 10 best players on the planet, one of the most popular players in the world (only LeBron James received more fan votes than Doncic in All-Star balloting), is kept on the bench the entire fourth quarter.

Instead, basketball fans got Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker dribbling the ball off his foot and Houston Rockets star James Harden passing up a wide open layup that would have won the game in the interestingly tweaked format.

A few things worked against Luka — and anyone who loves good basketball. One being that Giannis Antetokounmp, one of the two captains for the game with LeBron, is one of the worst pickers of players in recorded sports history. If Giannis had drafted Luka like he should have, it’s hard to imagine Doncic not being out there for a team in dire need of some playmaking and shooting to go with The Greek Freak and Joel Embiid.

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Instead, Doncic found himself stuck on a LeBron Team that was always going to play his buddies Chris Paul and Anthony Davis plus Kawhi Leonard and Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, in crunch time. Team LeBron coach Frank Vogel still should have found a way to get Doncic on the floor for at least a few minutes of an untimed fourth quarter that actually stretched out to more than 40 minutes of real time.

But  you know what? No one seemed less bothered by the fourth quarter robbery than Luka himself. No one seems less concerned that he puts up eight points and four rebounds in a modest 17 minutes of playing time (a number which probably delights Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle).

Luka Doncic’s Cool

This is one of the great things about the 20-year-old who’s made the Mavericks one of the coolest teams in the NBA. He just goes with it — and embraces the moment, no matter what it brings.

Sometimes that means meeting a president who is a worldwide icon. Obama, a huge basketball fan, told Doncic he was “fantastic.” And he gave him a friendly warning too. “Don’t listen to J-Kidd when it comes to shooting,” Obama cracks, making a jump shooting motion in a moment captured on video.

Of course, Jason Kidd — the former Mavericks guard turned Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach — is right there as Obama says it, drawing laughs all around.

Then again, sometimes Luka’s life involves something as simple as making sure he’ll never have to worry about rushing off after a game to get to his favorite restaurant before it closes ever again. (He should have unlimited stay late privileges at Nick & Sam’s by now.)

And sometimes, it means he sits in the fourth as the older all-stars play. Even if he is better than several of the players on the floor in that fourth quarter. Even if he would have made the rare competitive all-star game that much more interesting.

Luka Doncic does not care. He’s 20 — and he’s the one whose picture covers the entire side of a five-story building in Chicago within view of the arena (courtesy of a Nike ad). He’ll have plenty of NBA All-Star moments to come.

For all of Dirk Nowitzki’s unquestionable greatness, he never gripped the sport quite like this. It’s still Luka’s world. And he’ll just happily eat popcorn if you won’t let him play.

That’s beyond composed. That’s Luka.

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