Coach Šiško showed WFAA the Ljubljana basketball court where Luka put in so much extra practice before and after his scheduled practices.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Basketball is, of course, a team sport. But Slovenian youth coach Rok Dežman remembers one individual player who stood out from all the rest from a very young age.
“As coaches we see some little things, like little details that a player has,” said Dežman.
He recalls seeing a young Luka Dončić walk out onto the court.
“You see those moves when he was six years old. He was born with the ball. He lived basketball…he didn’t practice basketball. You didn’t have to tell him, put this leg here, put this one here. He had it naturally,” said Dežman.
Early on, little Luka was paired up with bigger, older players in the Olimpija Club youth league in Ljubljana, Slovenia. You can see for yourself how Luka stood out in this clip from the FIBA YouTube Channel. Luka dominated with a 54-point triple-double championship performance when he was just 12 years old.
The kid had mad skills and an uncanny passion. The sort that, “You can’t train”. Another of his early coaches, Lojze Šiško, explains, “You are born with this passion.”
Šiško showed WFAA the Ljubljana basketball court where Luka put in so much extra practice before and after his scheduled practices that Coach Šiško tried to reduce his court time. He didn’t succeed.
“When I said you have to stay at home tomorrow and rest before the practice, his mom called me: ‘Okay Luca wants to play to practice today’. Okay Luca, come,” said Šiško.
Coach Dežman had a similar experience.
“I had also under 20 (years old) practice with older guys, and he was like 13. And he stayed in the gym. He stayed for the second practice. He was just shooting. And if there was there were some guys missing, he would play here. Also, a lot of times he stayed and was in the under-20 practice. He liked hanging out with those guys…with all of the guys…talking basketball trash,” said Dežman.
No doubt that bolstered Luka’s trash-talking game. And it certainly helped him hone his basketball skills.
“I’ll put it this way. When he decided to score, he scored. That’s how easy it was. He could miss every shot during the game. But when he decided to score, he scored. I don’t know how, but he did. He was a magician. He was making up new things all the time,” said Dežman.
Coach Dežman is still molding talented young players in Slovenia, but that one standout player still stands out and may always. WFAA asked if he thought he might ever coach another Luka Doncic, and he answered, “That’s a very interesting question. I believe it’s one in a million years. I’m very proud of him.”