There is something special about where a great and successful career starts for someone. For Luka Doncic, it began with Real Madrid at the tender age of 13 on its under-16 team. When he was 16, he moved up to Real Madrid’s Liga ACB team, becoming the youngest player ever to play for it in the ACB.
Doncic was then taken by the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Now, as the new face of the Los Angeles Lakers, he has the opportunity to become the storied franchise’s next transcendent legend and bring it multiple championships.
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During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the 26-year-old was asked if he would ever want to play for Real Madrid again, perhaps when his NBA career ends. While he said he wasn’t sure he’d be able to, he does like the idea.
“Doncic does leave the door open to a sentimental possibility,” wrote Jason Gay. “I ask him if he’d consider playing for Real Madrid toward the end of his career, returning to where it all started. At first he demurs, saying he doesn’t know if he’d still have the physical tools.
“‘To play with Real Madrid, you have to be so good,’ he says.
“But the idea of finishing up there—a storyline the NBA, currently assembling a European league of its own, might love—does that have emotional appeal?
“‘For sure,’ Luka says. ‘They raised me.'”
Real Madrid is arguably the most storied European pro basketball club. It has won 38 Spanish League championships, 29 Spanish Cups and 11 EuroLeague titles, and several other NBA players have suited up for it, including Arvydas Sabonis, Rudy Fernandez and the late Drazen Petrovic.
For now, Lakers fans are stoked about a leaner, fitter version of Doncic taking on the NBA. As great as he was in his first seven seasons in the league, he may be about to unleash some real fury upon the other 29 teams.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Luka Doncic leaves door open to finishing career with Real Madrid