As a kid, he played all sports: tennis, skateboarding, soccer, he was a striker, “of course.” And what surprises him most about the person he is today? “The way I stayed the same,” he explained. “I think I was like this even 10 years ago. A little bit childish. I like to joke. I still like all the same things I did before.”
He still enjoys the beach. Fishing. Playing chess. Cards. Dominoes. Winning. He enjoys winning at everything.
Luka is normal. And that is why he is so beloved—he is a normal person capable of mythic basketball acts. Nothing about him feels constructed; that’s what makes the legend feel most real.
He moves gently through the world, most of the time. Generally, he has a quiet, reserved demeanor. Unless he knows you, then he’s going to prank, joke, or challenge you...probably all three.
Before almost every pregame of his career, there have been assistant coaches around Luka doing pushups as he stands there with his big Luka smile. The stakes of the bet are ten pushups a piece; Luka has the opportunity to make one of three halfcourt shots. If he makes one, they do pushups. If he misses one, he does pushups.
When asked how many pushups he’s handed out? “A lot,” he said simply. And how many he’s done? “Some but not more than I’ve given.”
In press conferences, he chooses his words carefully, often looking down reviewing the box score from that night’s game, and he almost always lets out a sigh of relief when the last question has been asked.
But then on the floor, he’s a menace. He is every level of passion personified. You can literally see the frustration rise to his head when a shot doesn’t fall. Mind you, it’s usually a shot most can’t make. But Luka thinks he can and knows he will. He eventually does.
How else would he have been able to score at least 20 points in 35 of his 37 contests this season, including 27 games with 30-plus and eight with 40-plus, leading the league. |  | He’s been competitive since he was born. As a kid, after school he and his friends would play each other in basketball. He was always better than them he pointed out. And even at 14, when he left his friends and family in Ljubljana and moved to play for Real Madrid, he didn’t expect to be in the NBA. “I didn’t expect to be here,” he said. “I wanted to be here, but you never know.”
When he did arrive here, as the third pick in the 2018 draft, he was still unsure about his place. He said, “I just didn’t know how I was going to fit into NBA basketball. I didn’t know what to expect. But after the first couple games, I knew I could fit in.”
But he didn’t fit in, and he doesn’t fit in, not really.
He never conformed to the game. Instead, the game changed to match him. His combination of size, vision, and skill has inspired a shift toward developing versatile playmakers league-wide. More guards and forwards now work on playmaking, isolation creation, and step-back shooting, Luka’s signatures. In fact with his second 3-pointer of the night at Dallas on January 24, Luka reached 1,500 regular season triples made in his career to become the youngest player in NBA history to do so at 26 years, 330 days old.
He’s also the fastest Laker to reach 2,000 points, doing it in just 65 games. This achievement is partly due to his weaponized deceleration. He plays slow on purpose. With his change of pace, his ability to stop on a dime, and his hesitation, he drags defenders downhill and forces them into awkward positions, allowing him to get easy shots off at the rim.
For the most part, people can see parts of themselves in Luka: earnest, loyal and adaptable. But then when he’s on the basketball court, nothing he does feels relatable. That tension is why Los Angeles accepted him so fast and so unequivocally. Because icons don’t announce themselves. They show up as they are, and the rest follows.
“Being welcomed by the fans, that was the first thing that’s really amazed me,” Luka reflected. “New guy. New city. It’s not really easy. But the fans embraced me so much.”
Los Angeles loves him. Luka represents a version of stardom this city rarely gets to see. In a town full of people telling you exactly who they are, he’d rather show you.
And he loves LA the way LA loves him. From the first month he was here, he donated to relief efforts after the Palisades fire, he restored a beloved mural that was vandalized after that, and still, he always finds ways to make the fans feel special. “I always have a big connection with the communities wherever I’ve been, I try to help out the community like they’ve helped me. That’s all I care about,” he said. |  | He is a normal person, a real person. And he’s an icon in the making, one capable of legendary acts. He invites high stakes; he likes pressure, “I enjoy pressure because it gets the best out of you. When the pressure’s on, it’s not real pressure, if we’re talking about basketball. I do this a lot. I know what to do. When the game’s on the line, that’s when I enjoy it the most.”
He’s inspired by excellence. “Outside of basketball, when I was in Madrid and [Cristiano] Ronaldo was playing there…it was surreal to see him play and to meet him.” When asked if the two share anything in common, his answer avoids likeness to his own greatness. “Maybe the cars,” he replied.
Talking about Ronaldo, he repeatedly shrugs off any comparison of mastery. “I mean…he’s a little bit better. I still have a long way to go. He’s probably top 2, top 3 in the world. I’ve still got a long way to go.” This from someone widely considered one of the best basketball players in the league.
“I don’t like to say it myself…I leave that to others. It’s better.” His work talks. His game talks. That’s it. Then, he lets everyone else do the talking.
He carries one of the heaviest workloads in the league, initiating the offense, absorbing contact, and creating for others. He scores at a historic pace while rebounding and facilitating at elite levels. He's a normal guy with an abnormal obsession to win. He’s an icon by LA’s standards and beyond, even if he won’t admit it. He doesn’t have time to admit it because there’s only one thing that commands his full attention.
“I just wanna win every game.” | |
