Luka Doncic shares wise warning he received from Kobe Bryant after being drafted

By David Akerman
Updated: March 18, 2022

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA today. He’s a perennial MVP candidate and wows fans regularly with his many talents.

Doncic recently appeared on former NBA player J.J. Redick’s podcast and revealed that Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant warned him about something after he got drafted with the third overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.

“Just after I was drafted, I think, it was the Nike campus,” said Doncic. “He was there, and the one advice he gave me was, ‘Watch out, they’re going to come after you because you’re from Europe. They’re gonna try and go after you.’ And it was true.”

Bryant and Doncic unfortunately never got to play one another in the NBA, as Bryant retired a couple of seasons before Doncic entered the league.

Doncic came into the NBA with a lot of hype after impressing for multiple years in Europe while playing for Real Madrid. The 23-year-old has seemed to exceed the lofty expectations that were set for him. He’s averaged 26.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game on 45.7 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent shooting from deep so far during his NBA career.

The Slovenian guard has already been named to three All-Star teams and has also earned All-NBA First Team honors on two separate occasions.

Doncic is just getting started, and he surely has many more years of greatness ahead of him. This season, he’s averaging 28.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game. He’s led the Mavericks to a solid 43-26 record so far, and they are currently the fifth seed in the Western Conference.

The Mavericks and Lakers have already faced off twice so far this season, and the two teams will play each other one more time before the regular season ends. That game will come on March 29 in Dallas.