Doncic, Mavericks to play preseason game against his former team Real Madrid in Spain
Before being an NBA MVP candidate and Mr. Everything for the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic was a 19-year-old Euroleague MVP and Mr. Everything for Real Madrid.
This preseason, Doncic is going home. For a day. He and the Mavericks are headed to Spain, where they will take on Real Madrid in a preseason game, the NBA announced. The game will be played at the WiZink Center in Madrid on Oct. 10.
Real Madrid is the reigning EuroLeague champion (if you're into the “is the NBA champion the world champion?” debate, this team would be the world's representative). It features a number of former NBA players including Rudy Fernández, Mario Hezonja, Sergio Rodríguez and Džanan Musa, as well as former NBA draftee Sergio Llull.
The NBA has not played a preseason game in Spain since 2016, when a very young Dončić and Real Madrid hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Dallas is going to spend a chunk of its preseason on the road. Before heading to Spain and an emotional homecoming for Doncic, he and the Mavericks will play two preseason games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 5 and 7 in Abu Dhabi. It will be interesting to see if all that traveling impacts Doncic — who is currently playing in Japan with the Slovenian national team at the World Cup — as well as Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Mavericks at the start of the NBA season later that month.
