“Teens hanging out in Namche carrom parlors are more likely to be wearing jeans and Chicago Bulls T-shirts than quaint traditional robes,” wrote Jon Krakauer, a mountaineer who traveled to climb Everest back in 1996. Such was the effect of Michael Jordan and the team he led that even villages in the Himalayan mountains had children donning his number. Though it has been hard to replicate that global effect through just one player, several stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, etc, did make strides. Now, judging from what Rob Pelinka recently said, Luka Doncic might end up joining the ranks of these legends, too.
The Lakers’ president of basketball operations and general manager recently joined Luka Doncic in the first press conference after the latter signed a major 3-year, $165 million extension with the team. During the same, Rob Pelinka went on to state that “I think Luka Dončić joining forces with the Los Angeles Lakers is a seismic event in NBA history. The reason I say that is because we have a 25-year-old global superstar that’s going to get on the stage with the most popular and influential basketball brand on the globe”.
Luka Doncic was already one of the most talked about players in the modern NBA during his days with the Dallas Mavericks. All thanks to the legacy he had established back in Europe, the prowess he displayed on the NBA court, and the influence he had generated to the point that he had even become a Jordan Brand athlete with his own signature shoe. Combine all that now with the stardom of the Los Angeles Lakers, the most popular team in the modern NBA, and the Slovenian can become the next face of the league. The next Michael Jordan, or the next LeBron James!
“I think when those two powerful forces come together, it brings basketball joy to the world, because that’s how Luka plays. He plays with joy. If you think about kids in Barcelona, or kids in Buenos Aires, or children in Shanghai or Sydney, they’re going to be wearing a No. 77 Luka Dončić Lakers jersey and bringing joy to basketball, just like he does,” said Rob Pelinka. “And that’s why it’s powerful.”
This is a developing story.
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