Luka Doncic Is No Darko Milicic

“Wonder Boy” is heading to the NBA, and he’s out to change how we think about European imports.

- Mina Kimes

For a while, the story of Luka Doncic seemed like a myth: the tale of a blond basketball demigod with supernatural mental and physical powers, a 6-foot-8 Slovenian teenager whose name was whispered only in the nerdiest corners of the NBA internet. While his highlights occasionally trickled across the Atlantic, circulating among draft obsessives like contraband, they never made waves beyond those circles. Outside of Europe, Doncic (pronounced dawn-chich) was still an abstraction, a set of inscrutable numbers paired with a name. Then in September, he came face-to-face with Kristaps Porzingis—and his fabled existence suddenly felt real.

Last year national teams across Europe met at EuroBasket, a tournament that draws NBA veterans back to their home countries. Doncic, then 18 years old, joined Slovenia’s team, which was led by Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic. When Slovenia played Latvia in the quarterfinals, Doncic and Porzingis went shot for shot. Then, halfway through the fourth quarter, the two crossed paths—and for a moment, time stopped. Doncic dribbled between his legs, sizing up the towering Knicks center like a mathematician staring at a problem scrawled on a blackboard. Porzingis extended one rubbery arm. After a seemingly interminable pause, Doncic, known locally as Wonder Boy, dashed past the future All-Star and made a one-handed layup, glancing back at Porzingis as he jogged away.

The arena exploded. “I wanted to kill him,” Porzingis says with a laugh, adding that he was “never that consistent” at Doncic’s age. “I don’t know any other European kid that plays at such a high level.”