How Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic became Slovenia’s ‘biggest brand’

On “I Feel Slovenia” night at American Airlines Center, up in a corner suite, one of Luka Doncic’s homefolks considered the question of who, exactly, held the title of the tiny nation’s most famous citizen before Luka Magic seized the world stage as if it were a loose ball.

Masa Puklavec, global public relations manager for the Slovenian Tourist Board, needed a moment to consult with her boss.

“Maybe Melania,” Puklavec said after the quick huddle.

Melania?

“Trump.”

Oh. Right.

Even Slovenia’s ambassador to the U.S., Iztok Mirosic, among the two dozen or so dignitaries and erstwhile hoops nuts who made the business trip, says the former first lady takes a back seat, calling Luka their “biggest brand in the United States.” In a little more than five seasons, the 24-year-old superstar has done as much for his idyllic nation’s economy as he’s done for the Mavs’. Last year, U.S. tourists broke their 2019 record for overnight stays. Luka gets unofficial credit for the uptick in bookings.

No one back home could have imagined this sort of economic boon a decade ago when Mirjam Poterbin was flying her son back and forth from Madrid to play basketball with grown men.

Now he drives everything from fast breaks to tourism to talk show conversation.

“Yeah, I think so,” Mirosic said from his perch in the suite. “Every morning driving from my house to work, that’s all you hear on the radio. People are waking up very early in the morning just to watch him play.

“Every morning is about Luka, what he said and how he played.”

Luka’s story plays everywhere these days, and it’s paying off, too.

Putting Slovenia on the map

For the record, Leon Stukelj won six Olympic medals in gymnastics, including two golds in Paris in 1924, another in Amsterdam in ‘28 and a silver in Berlin, the Olympics where Jesse Owens and the boys in the boat got under Hitler’s skin. Many of Slovenia’s 2.1 million citizens are consumed with athletic pursuits of one kind or another, from Alpine skiing to soccer, basketball, handball and volleyball. Tadej Pogacar is a two-time winner of the Tour de France, and Janjas Garnbret was the first female Olympic gold medalist in climbing. Anze Kopitar has played 18 seasons for the Los Angeles Kings. For that matter, Goran Dragic beat Luka to the NBA by a decade.

But no other Slovenian athlete has captured the public’s imagination like the four-wheel-drive truck cruising the floor Monday at the AAC.

“He’s the first man from Slovenia that’s gotten people curious about where he’s from,” said Lucija Jager, project manager for the Slovenian Tourist Board.

“That’s a very good thing for us as a country.”

Just how good is difficult to quantify, though it’s enough of a sure thing that they came back for their third “I Feel Slovenia Night,” the brainchild of Mavs official Connor Terry. The Mavericks have employed players from all over, including a pretty famous German, but Terry said no other partnership has taken like this one. Slovenian officials are trying to build on it in ways other than tourism. Earlier Monday, the contingent met with Dallas business leaders at the Dallas Regional Chamber to discuss potential investments.

Before the Ten-Day War in 1991 gave Slovenia its independence from the former Yugoslavia, the region already was prosperous. No bigger than New Jersey, bounded by Austria to the north, Hungary to the east, Italy out west and Croatia down south, Slovenia offers amenities such as free university tuition, a well-educated workforce and a nice view of the Alps and Mediterranean.

Mirosic fought in the Ten-Day War and has served in the public sector ever since. In September, President Joe Biden greeted him at the White House. Mirosic once presented Queen Elizabeth one of his nation’s prize Lipizzaner stallions. Also met Melania Trump in Warsaw.

What did you think?

“I admired her,” he said. “Regardless of the politics and all that, I think she’s a very good mother and she takes very good care of Barron.”

Pause.

“Of course, she’s American now. No more Slovenian.”

Mirosic confessed he’s in no place to judge whether the same fate awaits Luka, as well. He’s never actually met his nation’s most famous celebrity. He’s been a little busy over the last couple decades or so, stationed in Rome or London or Washington. On the other hand, Slovenia is such an intimate place, as one official put it, “We are all in each other’s phones.”

The population of Dallas-Fort Worth is almost four times as big as his country’s, but, as Mirosic put it, it’s not the size that resonates with Slovenians.

“To be sincere?” he asked. “Mostly they know about Dallas from the famous TV show. Then there is the association with cowboys.”

Dallas Cowboys?

“Going around with pistols,” he said, guns up.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Slovenia Night spoilers

In what has become something of a tradition on “I Feel Slovenia Night,” the locals didn’t really get the feels. Scheduling the game against the Boston Celtics didn’t help. Even without Kristaps Porzingis, sitting out the second night of a back-to-back, the visitors, declining to buy into a presentation promoting international goodwill, bullied the Mavs around the floor.

Still, with 4:59 left, a 3-pointer by Luka pulled the Mavs to within 103-96, drawing a timeout from the Celtics and shrieks from the suite in section 214. Three female visitors proudly waved green “I Feel Slovenia” scarves, sensing a comeback led by their hero.

Alas, he was up to no such miracle. A couple minutes later, down 11, he missed a free throw.

“Lu-kaaaaaaaaa,” one of the women wailed, leaning out over the rail.

Then he missed the second one, too.

Silence filled the suite.

Despite 33 points, 13 assists and 18 rebounds from Luka, not to mention a rousing halftime show from Slovenia’s Dunking Devils, the Mavs lost, 119-110. On top of that, Luka even lost the headband he’d recently made a fashion item.

Nevertheless, two dozen Slovenian visitors waited eagerly for one of their own to address them after the game. Some brought memorabilia for autographs. A couple picked up discarded Luka posters. They waited and waited some more. Finally, after more than an hour, Luka appeared out of a tunnel to cheers from his tiny home crowd. A Mavs official, a little embarrassed, told them there would be no speech after all. Luka still had to talk to the media. There would only be time for a picture.

Team Slovenia.

From way up in the corner suite, the man who met a president and a queen and a first lady watched Luka exit. A meeting with Slovenia’s biggest star will wait for another day.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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