While Luka Doncic has made it clear that he wants to bring championships to the Los Angeles Lakers, he has never forgotten his roots in Europe.
The Slovenian native started playing pro basketball at the tender age of 16 for Real Madrid, one of the most prominent teams in Europe. He won a EuroBasket championship in 2017 with the Slovenian national team while leading Real Madrid to a EuroLeague title the following year.
Now, Doncic is part of a group that owns Vanoli Cremona, a pro team in Northern Italy. He said that for years, he has dreamt of owning a team in Europe, per Tania Ganguli of the New York Times.
“’Since I came to the N.B.A., my dream was always to own a team in Europe, especially because Europe gave me so much,’ Mr. Doncic, 27, said this week in his first interview about the venture. Mr. Doncic was raised in Slovenia and as a teenager played for one of Europe’s top professional teams, Real Madrid.
“’I grew up there, grew up playing basketball there,’ he said.”
He also said that playing in the EuroLeague helped shape him into the player he has become since.
“I am the player I am because of Euroleague — that will never go away,” Mr. Doncic said. “It’s obviously very important to me.”
Doncic doesn’t just want to own Vanoli Cremona — his plan is reportedly to move the team to Rome. His group has submitted a bid to be Rome’s representative in the NBA’s efforts to create a pro league in Europe.
But first, he has more immediate goals in mind back in the States. He just finished an MVP-caliber season by averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.6 steals a game. After his season prematurely ended on April 2 due to a hamstring strain, he has started to return to the same stringent diet that helped him drop weight and get into much better shape last summer.
The 27-year-old recently announced he will not play for the Slovenian national team this summer, and that should help him keep his body right for the 2026-27 NBA season.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Luka Doncic is now the part-owner of a pro basketball team in Europe
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
