Background and career
Luka Dončić ( LOO-kə DON-chitch; Slovene: [ˈlùːka ˈdòːntʃitʃ]; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a Rookie of the Year, six-time NBA All-Star, six-time All-NBA First Team member and a two-time NBA Scoring Champion. He also represents the Slovenian national team. Nicknamed “Luka Magic,” he is broadly regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time.
Dončić was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2018 NBA draft and then traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Dončić was unanimously selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won Rookie of the Year for the 2018–19 season. In the 2023–24 season he led the NBA in scoring averaging 33.9 points per game and led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals, where they fell to the Boston Celtics in five games. Dončić was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the middle of the 2024–25 season in a controversial blockbuster trade that is regarded as one of the most shocking and unexpected trades in American sports history. In the 2025–26 season he led the NBA in scoring for a second time averaging 33.5 points per game. Doncic ranks seventh in NBA career triple-doubles.
Dončić was a youth player for Union Olimpija before joining the youth academy of Real Madrid. In 2015, he made his debut for the academy's senior team at age 16, becoming the youngest in club history. He made his senior debut for Slovenia in 2016 at only 17 years of age. He later helped his country win its first EuroBasket title, in 2017, while also being named to the All-Tournament Team. Dončić led Madrid to the 2018 EuroLeague title, winning the EuroLeague MVP and the Final Four MVP. He was named the ACB Most Valuable Player and won back-to-back EuroLeague Rising Star and ACB Best Young Player awards. Dončić was also selected to the EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team.
Dončić was born in Ljubljana to Mirjam Poterbin, an owner of beauty salons, and Saša Dončić, a basketball coach and former player. His mother is Slovenian, and his father is a Slovenian of Serbian descent from Kosovo. His parents filed for divorce in 2008, with custody and legal guardianship granted to his mother.
According to his family, Dončić first touched a basketball when he was seven months old and frequently played with a miniature hoop in his room by age one. Dončić played various sports in his childhood, including football, which he later quit after growing too tall. At age seven, Dončić began playing organized basketball at a primary school in Ljubljana. His opponents at the time were up to 10 years old, as Dončić reflected: "I was always training and playing with older kids who had much more experience than me. Many of them were bigger and faster than me too, so I had to beat them with my brain." Dončić admired Greek basketball player Vassilis Spanoulis from his early teenage years, stating that he was "enchanted" by him. Dončić wore the number 7 at Real Madrid in honor of Spanoulis. Dončić also grew up admiring the American basketball player LeBron James.
How Luka Dončić makes money
2025–26 season: Second scoring title On August 2, 2025, Dončić and the Lakers agreed to a three-year, $165 million contract extension.
