Luka Doncic has never met a microphone he liked. Yet when Lakers staffers approached the star guard a few days before the Lakers dominated their season opener against the Golden State Warriors to ask him if he wanted to address the crowd, Doncic didn’t just agree to the task.
“Of course,” he said afterward.
Standing at the center of the home court under a spotlight, Doncic welcomed Laker Nation to a new season, one he promised would be special. In a nervy, shy, 15-second speech, Doncic also unofficially introduced a new era of himself.
This prodigy once known as the “Wonder Boy” is all grown up.
“It’s a more refined Luka,” Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean said. “He’s the same person and he still is leading with joy and that is something that he loves to do, but it’s something that is continuing to grow and understand that the Lakers leadership might be a little different than the Mavericks leadership and the 27-year-old Luka might lead a little different than the 23-year-old.”
A more mature Doncic steps into the Lakers spotlight during a transitional period for the franchise. After an amicable, but necessary split with LeBron James, who has taken his talents to Philadelphia, the Lakers are entirely Doncic’s team.
Doncic is adamant to remind anyone who asks that this is not the first time he’s been entrusted with the stewardship of a team. Don’t forget he was the youngest player in Real Madrid history to make his senior team debut.
Still only a teenager whose magical passes screamed louder than any of his two-word interview answers ever could, Doncic didn’t say a word with Real Madrid, his longtime Spanish agent Quique Villalobos said.
Instead, Doncic led by competing “like an animal” on the court. Teammates, some more than a decade older, followed that example to a EuroLeague championship in 2018. At 19, he was the youngest-ever EuroLeague most valuable player.
When Doncic plays with the Slovenian national team, his “peak leadership” comes out, said St. Jean, who worked with Doncic in Dallas as an assistant from 2021-23 and as an assistant on the Slovenian national team in 2022 and 2025. He was communicating with teammates during huddles and film sessions. He reinforced messages from coaches and added his own opinions. And while he had those same moments with the Lakers, on the national team Doncic did it all with rare consistency and confidence.
Those closest to Doncic already know this side of him. The reason it comes out most with the national team is that those players have known each other for decades, St. Jean said. They went through similar youth academies in their native country. The coaches have known Doncic since he was a boy.
“He feels like those players are his family,” Villalobos said. “He’s able to do these things when he feels comfortable in that type of atmosphere. I think he’s getting there with the Lakers.”
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It’s why Doncic brought all his Lakers teammates to Slovenia this summer on a team trip that was part basketball, part vacation and all team bonding.
The five-day mini camp was a rare moment of vulnerability for the usually guarded Doncic. He said he was nervous about the trip. He packed in pick-up games, not-so-friendly competitions of golf, rowing and bike riding, and sight-seeing throughout the Slovenian capital where Doncic first fell in love with basketball. Almost as important as learning his new teammates, Doncic wanted for them to learn about him.
“With there being so many new faces and so many new guys on the team, for him to take the initiative to step up and make sure we’re all over there and trying to build that team chemistry, that was huge,” said guard Collin Sexton, who is one of nine new players the Lakers signed this offseason.
Doncic’s dueling personalities — the charismatic showman on the court and the reserved personality off it — overlap in his generosity. He takes care of the people he loves. In the arena, that means throwing lobs that bring a smile to everyone’s face. He treated teammates to a Porsche driving experience last year, feeding his most glamorous vice of rare sports cars, and bought everyone in the Lakers organization e-bikes — 103 in total.
The appreciation extends to fans. He donated $500,000 to wildfire relief only weeks after arriving in L.A. and paid for parking for Lakers fans before games. Before the season opener, when he also covered the price of Metro bike rentals, Doncic took out a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, promising fans the team would “give you everything we have, every single night. No excuses. No nights off.” He asked for their support in return.
The selfless acts aren’t just feel-good stories for business. Doncic said there has always been something in him that compelled him to establish connections with fans. The responsibility in L.A. is as great as it’s ever been.
“Obviously it’s the Lakers, it’s one of the biggest organizations in the world, if not the biggest,” Doncic said. “A lot of honor, just to be the face of the franchise and, you know, I hope I can stay here long.”
Doncic once thought he would retire a Dallas Maverick, building deep bonds with the fan base and franchise that traded for him on draft day and watched him soar to the NBA Finals. He has seen how the best-laid plans go awry. While teammates still marveled at his talent during his debut season in L.A., they also noticed that he kept to himself off the court at first.
Doncic is naturally shy, St. Jean said. He’s been that way even as a teenager. Villalobos met him thinking the 14-year-old prodigy he was trying to recruit to his agency would have the same outgoing personality off the court that he did on it.
But he’s just a simple guy, Villalobos testifies. After viciously hitting step-back threes, trash talking anyone who dares tempt him and racking up two NBA scoring titles, Doncic just likes to stay home, maybe get lunch or play cards. Despite becoming a Slovenian hero with the national team, he still slept at the same team hotel, shared meals with his teammates and had no problem wearing the same practice gear, St. Jean said.
Doncic loves his two daughters — Gabriela, 2, and Olivia, 10 months — and wears their initials on his shoes during games. Sexton called him “a jokester” off the court. He’s just goofy, said Lakers guard Jaden Hardy, who played with Doncic in Dallas from 2022-2025.
“To be clear, he’s not a normal human being,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said with a smile. “But in terms of, like, a superstar, he’s just normal.”
The transformation from on-court assassin to reserved father of two is like Clark Kent and Superman, St. Jean said. Only instead of just peacefully apprehending opponents, Doncic’s super-competitive alter ego wants to smash them all under an array of increasingly rude step-back jumpers.
“All of the great, great players that have ever played have also been in the 1% competitor [level],” St. Jean said. “They’ve always been the guy that is able to inspire the players around him and be able to do things that don’t even seem like they’re possible. And he does that nightly.”
Maybe competing for a championship in this top-heavy Western Conference doesn’t seem possible for Doncic and the Lakers. He’s pulled off more difficult magic tricks.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
