By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
For some basketball is a version of Jazz. Others will compare it to dancing. If you are less talented and the refs permit it, you can handle it like it’s wrestling.
However, in Luka Doncic’s case, there’s an obvious comparison between the sport and his other favorite activity.
It became obvious one year ago. The topic of the day was Twitter getting sold, Doncic was asked about it because he was looking at his phone and his answer was shocking to the crowd of millennials: “I just play chess on my phone. I play online. But I win, mostly.”
The last bit of the answer was not a surprise. Doncic was born to win, first the Eurobasket in 2017 with Slovenia, then the EuroLeague with Real Madrid, and in this World Cup, his goal is simple.
No matter the absences of Slovenia, Doncic has in mind that he is playing for a whole nation and he is not one to shy in the moment. On the contrary, he will be there to take the big shot and make the big move, which he probably had already planned three turns ago.
Yes, his basketball instincts are admirable, but his basketball IQ is even great, equal to a chess grandmaster on the court with an orange ball in his hands.
Luka Doncic: playing chess not checkers ♟️
#NothingElseMatters #WinForAll #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/JvUxR0N7iB
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) August 14, 2023
Just watch him play and you will understand.
There’s a rare breed of players that they get to a point in their career where the game simply slows down for them. They can anticipate pretty much everything on the court, they can make the right decision, and they are a step above the rest.
Doncic belongs to this category already, and the keyword here is “already”. Luka is just 24 years old, born in 1999, and since he was a teenager he was also “the man” on his teams.
Even the NBA doubters quickly understood that he is a generational talent and that’s why taking a whole nation on his back is not something extreme in his case.
That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
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On the contrary, with Goran Dragic retiring for good, while unlucky Vlatko Cancar and Edo Muric are missing a historic tournament for Slovenia due to injuries, Doncic might need to contribute even more than his 26 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game that he registered in last year’s Eurobasket.
But it’s just one more game of chess when the rest of the court might be playing checkers…