By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Former NBA veteran Goran Dragic remembered winning the EuroBasket 2017 with Slovenia and a young emerging star Luka Doncic as his teammate.
“It’s easy,” Dragic said on playing with Doncic during an interview for Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s Thanalysis Show. “In 2017 it was the first time we played together. At that time Luka was a little different. He was still young and I took him under my wings. We were roommates. Even there you could see he has an unbelievable talent. Being a starter for the national team at 17, 18 years old. Putting up big numbers. It was something unbelievable.
Doncic and Dragic reunited on the Slovenian national team in the 2022 EuroBasket. While their squad was a favorite for the gold medal, they felt victim to a huge upset by Poland in the quarterfinals.
“This past [2022] EuroBasket was a bit different,” Dragic added. “Back then I was the Batman and he was the Robin. Now the roles were reversed. And I was really happy to play with him. Such a tremendous player and a good kid.”
Dragic was actually familiar with Doncic from a very young age since he was a teammate with Luka’s father Sasa.
“When I was 15 years old I signed my first professional contract,” Dragic said. “And you know who my mentor on that team was? Sasa Doncic, Luka Doncic’s father. When we had a game or practice, Luka who was just a kid, would be there, mopping the floors and everything. In 2017 playing for the first time with him and now he’s an NBA superstar. It’s the circle of life.”
In February 2011, the Phoenix Suns traded Dragic to the Houston Rockets. The deal was actually finalized while the team was on the way to Toronto for a game vs. the Raptors.
Dragic found out that he switched teams while on the plane.
“We had practice and we were flying out to Toronto, Canada,” Dragic said. “And the trade deadline was until 1 p.m. So we finished practice, we drove to the plane with the bus and the plane took off at 12:30. There were still 30 minutes on the trade deadline. I was on the plane, we took off. I vividly remember that I was sitting next to Steve Nash. I took a nap, it’s a pretty long flight to Canada. We touched ground and Steve told me ‘Sorry G, you got traded.” I got my bag, went to the terminal and flew to Houston.”
“The next day I’m playing against the Nets. Straight to work.”