Luka Doncic probably expected an enthusiastic crowd for his team’s road game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, but what the Dallas Mavericks star did not anticipate was someone speaking to him in his native language from a courtside seat.
That someone was Kobe Bryant.
Bryant had a courtside seat at the Staples Center for the game, and Doncic was inbounding the ball right in front of him at one point. Doncic says Kobe caught his ear when he began speaking to him in Slovenian.
Luka said Kobe was speaking to him in Slovenian from the sidelines
"He was talking Slovenian. So I was like, 'who's talking my language?' I saw Kobe and was really surprised."
(via @BenGolliver) pic.twitter.com/qzRGuJCmdK
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 30, 2019
Doncic and Kobe then chatted after the game and shared a laugh over the unexpected exchange.
Post-game hug between Mavericks’ Luka Doncic & Lakers legend Kobe Bryant pic.twitter.com/ENTSpVYUqw
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) December 30, 2019
Kobe grew up in Europe and is actually fluent in Italian and Spanish in addition to English. He has picked up on other languages over the years because of the many international teammates he had with the Lakers, and he learned some Slovenian from Sasha Vujacic. Bryant also speaks some Serbian.
Bryant is one of the all-time great trash talkers in NBA history, so it makes sense that he has learned to talk smack in multiple languages. Still, that had to have been a pretty unique surprise for Doncic.
