“We believed in him before. We believe in him now. And we are waking up in the middle of the night through (the) whole season,” said super fan Gregor Sevsek.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Gregor Sevsek is one of the biggest backers of fellow Slovenian and favorite NBA player Luka Doncic. On his social media pages, he even turns the knocks on Luka into positives.
This self-proclaimed #1 fan also tracks the movements of number 77 when he’s in their shared hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia. For instance, last year, he documented the rigorous workouts Doncic was seen doing in a Ljubljana park.
“I just thought to myself, I have to go to this spot. I have to take a video or two about that. And actually, it went pretty well. He was sprinting from down to the top and it’s approximately 50 or more, even more, I think even more stairs.”
It was definitely more than 50. I counted 174 steps which felt more than that. Just walking them quickly, can get you out of breath. Running them can get you into great shape.
Sevsek agrees, “Yeah actually he was probably in the best shape of his life. I’m pretty sure about that.”
Sevsek and many other Slovenians have been closely watching and rooting for their countryman for most of his life.
“We identify with him as one of us, as one of Slovenia. And as I said before, we are very proud of him. This is special,” he said.
So as the NBA Finals get underway, Sivsek and others from Slovenia have some ‘Luka-grams’ to send their favorite player.
Sivsek delivered his in Slovenian and then explained, “I just told him that, we believed in him before. We believe in him now. And we are waking up in the middle of the night through (the) whole season. And right now, this is just a big reward for everything. And we believe that they can go to the Finals to win the Finals.”
We caught up with two brothers in Ljubljana – Mila and Gasper Setina. Both delivered their messages in Slovenian as well, and then translated.
“I told him that I’ll be in Boston on Friday, so I’m expecting an autograph,” Mila said.
“Luca, we are waiting for the championship,” Gasper said.
Here’s a message to Luka from Tilen Lamut, a commentator for Arena Sport Slovenia, which broadcasts the games.
“Do your thing, man. You’re the best guy in the NBA at the moment. You have a lifetime opportunity here. And just use it. Be yourself and dominate like you know how to. Good luck,” Lamut said.
“I would just say enjoy the moment. So, he’s been doing this his whole career and just enjoy it, man. You deserve it,” said Sports analyst and Slovenia-based contributor to D Magazine Iztok Franco.
We saved the final word to come from one of Luka’s youth coaches from his first days in basketball in Slovenia as a boy. Coach Rok Dezman translated his Slovenian message to Luka: “Basically, I told him that they have it this year. And not just this year, but till the end of his career.”
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