Luka Dončić Takes the Wheel
Luka Dončić is a big car guy. The star Dallas Mavericks point guard is such a car enthusiast that he brings not one, but five of them to our interview. We meet at a paved bluff on the southern edge of Dallas’s Trinity River, under an open sky filled with golden end-of-winter light. It’s early March, and the Mavs are tracking towards the playoffs. But today is designed less to hear about Dončić’s abilities, extraordinary as they are, and more about getting a sense of his life away from the floor. Central to it: all things automotive.
“My first luxury car was a Porsche Panamera,” says the Ljubljana-born Dončić (pronounced don·chich), briefly flashing a smile. “I have thirteen cars now. There’s still a Porsche, a 911, in Slovenia.” I’m only two inches shorter than Dončić, who is 6’7”, and I tell him I can’t fit in a 911. How does he? “I just do,” he says, matter-of-factly.
We scan the assortment of fine rides around us, among them a near-fluorescent purple Lamborghini Urus, a signature red Ferrari 812 Superfast, a marine blue 1968 Chevrolet Camaro and a wild, matte-black Apocalypse Hellfire 6x6 truck (this one is Dončić’s favorite). In our inspection, I notice that these cars all have decent numbers on their odometers. Dončić shrugs. “I like to drive. It’s personal time,” he says. “I drive everywhere. Sometimes late at night, just around. In the summer, I like to drive by the water.”
The fifth vehicle is here as a demo. It’s an orange Koenigsegg Regera from 2019 with an original sticker price of nearly $3 million. Dončić is thinking of buying it. He walks to the driver side, careful not to clip his shoulder on the raised and roboticized rear hood. He tilts his head. “This one… I don’t think I’ll fit,” is all he says, running his hands over the doorframe. He stays silent as he studies it.
Out here, Dončić–reserved, contemplative, almost reverential among the cars–is the exact opposite of who he is on court. Yes, the 25-year-old point guard is in constant physical action, barging toward the basket with a relentless, almost looming force. But he’s also animated and heated between drives; the guy is not afraid to provoke and rile. As for his basketball IQ, Dončić’s ability to read a play, to predict the defense and to anticipate the entire ebb-and-flow of an exchange… well, it’s mighty. On HBO’s The Shop, LeBron James once said: “[Luka] can control a game. He doesn’t even have to shoot… It’s the mind.”
When I ask what it is about basketball that he thinks comes most naturally to him–and how he’s able to decipher the sport with such prescience–Dončić is humble: “I think I’ve always just had a feel for it. I’ve been around it since I was very young.”
The 2023-2024 season, Dončić’s sixth in the NBA, was his best yet. Following a March and early April surge, he’s now in the playoffs for the fourth time with the Mavericks. (This year’s postseason kicks off on April 20, and, worth noting, Dončić is also in the running for MVP.) This season, he finished atop the league’s point-scoring leaderboard, averaging 33.9 per game. In one, against the Atlanta Hawks on January 26, he reached a stunning 73 points. This number tied with the NBA’s fourth-highest threshold ever by a player in a single game; only the late Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain have gone higher. “It was special,” Dončić says. “And we got the win, which matters to me most and more than anything.”
A few weeks later, Dončić went on a 47-point run against the Houston Rockets, which included a jaw-dropping, buzzer-beating underhand trick shot from just inside the 3-point-line. “Wasn’t surprised [it went in],” he deadpanned in a press conference afterward. “You know, when I was young, I was bartending, so I’m used to it.” As he said this, he made a palm-up cradling motion as if holding a cocktail shaker.
I’m curious if Dončić feels that personal growth has contributed to his apex success over the past six months or so. He says that part of it is “maturity” and continuing to “learn the game” over his half-decade with the Mavericks, but adds that he has hired a personal “body team” this year, too, including a physiotherapist, a strength-and-conditioning coach, and a nutritionist. “That’s part of what has changed. I’m doing more lifting, more recovery, all of these things,” he says.
The Mavericks’s coach, Jason Kidd, attributes some of Dončić’s excellence to a closer bond with the team’s other superstar point guard, Kyrie Irving. Kidd has told the media that “[Luka and Kyrie have] chemistry and trust on and off the floor at a very high level.”
“Everything has just clicked since the All-Star break,” says Dončić of his standout season and the Mav’s strong finish. “The chemistry and energy have been different. We’ve been playing well together. Having [Daniel] Gafford, guys like P.J. [Washington], that’s been huge. I’ve learned more from Kyrie this year. I’ve also tried to step up as a leader. Being more vocal, keeping everyone involved.”
After checking out the cars, we find somewhere to sit. Dončić has worn a few different outfits so far, styled by Marcus Paul, for his Esquire photos. Now, he changes into a white tee and baggy black shorts from Jordan, with which he has a partnership that’s inked through 2029. We chat summarily about 77X, Dončić’s nascent entertainment and tech studio named for his jersey number (he’ll announce more details later in 2024). Dončić asks if I want a Corona, his favorite beer.
“I like casual clothes,” says Dončić when I ask about his style. “I’ve started a little bit more with suits, some more fancy stuff. I like Tom Ford. I do like dressing up,” he adds, “but I mostly do it for game arrivals and sometimes for dinners.”
Dončić is more concerned with collecting watches–his next favorite thing to buy after cars. As he sips his Corona, I see he’s wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak model with a unique, hammered-effect bracelet. He points to my watch, which is way less luxe, and I tell him it’s set on the wrong time. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Mine too.”
On top of it all–the cars, the fits, the haute horlogerie–Dončić wants to display one more thing: his latest (and third) collaborative sneaker. Dubbed the Jordan Luka 3, the colorway he shows me features a lava-lamp purple body wrapped in a teal chassis. It’s eye-catching, but Jordan developed the footwear with a performance-first mindset–it features something called an IsoPlate, which supports stabilization in momentum and direction shifts. It’s meant to accommodate a signature Dončić move: his famed step-back. The Luka 3 will debut this week.
“I have meetings with Jordan every few months,” Dončić says. “They put options up on a screen, and I tell them what I like and what I don’t like. It’s how we get to the final product.” Then, perhaps unsurprisingly: “The Luka 3 is inspired by cars. A McLaren, specifically.”
Dončić was born in 1999 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His father, Saša, played professional hoops (he was a multi-time Slovenian League All-Star). At 8 years old, Dončić enrolled at a club in Ljubljana called Union Olimpija, and he soon trained with kids that were up to 4 years older than him. At 13, he signed with Real Madrid, rising through the junior ranks and eventually turning pro in 2015. In 2017, he helped Slovenia win its first-ever title in the EuroBasket. Over the 2017-2018 season, he propelled Real Madrid to victory in the Euro Cup in Belgrade. He was named MVP of the Euroleague and MVP of the Final Four.
The NBA called soon after. In 2018, the Atlanta Hawks chose Dončić with the third overall pick–and subsequently traded him to the Mavericks. He has played for Dallas ever since. And while he’s a fan of the Texan city that has become his home, he says his heart will always be rooted in Eastern Europe.
“When I retire, I will get a farm in Slovenia,” declares Dončić. His friends own a working example outside of Ljubljana, and he’s slowly learning the ins-and-outs of agriculture and livestock. Would he do the farming himself? “No, but I’d be around.” He’d have ample room for pets–Dončić loves dogs, and currently has three: a Pomeranian named Hugo, a White Swiss Shepherd named Gia, and a Tamaskan (“I think she’s part wolf”) named Viki. He’d be just a few hours drive from the Adriatic Sea. “In the summer,” he says, “I go to the coast in Croatia. I have a RV there. It’s on a campsite I used to go to as a kid.”
Most importantly, he hopes for his and his fiancé Anamaria Goltes’s first child—Gabriela, who was born at the end of 2023—to have freedom and space to pursue her interests.
“She can learn whatever she decides,” declares Dončić. He pauses, then adds: “I hope she likes sports. A lot of sports.” He pauses again. “Hopefully tennis. It’s a tough sport,” he says, without elaborating further. Does Dončić play tennis? “I play in the summer. My serve is my best shot.” He gestures to his half-sleeve of tattoos, fine-line work he mostly had rendered during his Madrid days. “I will add ‘Gabriela’ somewhere, one day.”
Though Dončić often glances toward the future in Slovenia, he is very much a homebody at present in Texas. Much of what we talk about revolves around the comforts of staying in, or at least keeping a low profile. He loves “grilling, but not cooking. I can make eggs, but that’s about it.” He prefers the privacy of a local Dallas wine club (he won’t say which) if he goes out. I ask what’s typical during an off-duty day. “I stay on my couch,” he says.
Otherwise, Dončić is working to formally inaugurate the Luka Dončić Foundation, supporting youth development in Europe and in Texas through both sport and charity.
“It’s for kids that need help,” says Dončić of his nonprofit, which soft-launched in 2022. “Slovenian and American kids. Kids in Ljubljana and Dallas. We do a lot in both. These two places have given me a lot, so I like to give back.” On more than one occasion, Dončić has paid–in full–for Slovenian families to relocate to the U.S. in order to receive specialized medical care for their children. Before Christmas last year, he sent hundreds of gifts to youth homes in Slovenia while simultaneously underwriting a holiday party at Cook’s Children Hospital in Fort Worth. There are more philanthropic examples, but Dončić keeps most of his efforts under-the-radar.
Whatever the current alchemy is for Dončić between the personal and the professional, it’s working wonders for the latter. Career-best season notwithstanding, Dončić also stands poised to potentially ink an insanely lucrative NBA deal in 2025. He’s close to eligibility for a “supermax” contract, which allows teams to reward their so-called veteran players with huge cumulative sums of money if they’ve met certain performance criteria. ESPN’s Bobby Marks recently came to the conclusion that, in Dončić’s case, said contract could be worth $346 million. If that happens, it will be the highest dollar amount ever offered to a player in NBA history.
Back here in Dallas, with the yellow daylight cascading into a rosy dusk, that all feels far away. It’s rush hour, and despite the traffic and the honking, the setting is peaceful and the cold beers have been going down easy.
When they’re done, I get the sense Dončić wants to get moving. He has a game tomorrow against the Indiana Pacers, and it has been a busy afternoon. The Trinity has morphed into a deep, flat purple, and his cars are still outside, minus the Koenigsegg, which I’ll later find out Dončić passed on because it was indeed too small.
He asks for his keys. All of them.
“Now I need to decide which one I want to drive home,” he says.
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