“Dirk Nowitzki really squished Luka Doncic’s belly fat before a game”: Slovenia superstar surprises the German legend as they reunite during World Cup Qualifiers

Luka Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki embrace one another during the World Cup Qualifiers as the latter gets quite comfortable with Doncic. 

Mark Cuban truly must love his European superstars as he had one for two decades in Dirk Nowitzki and then pulled off a draft night trade in 2018 to acquire another one. Luka Doncic was traded to the Dallas Mavericks from the Hawks in the final season of Dirk’s storied career, seamlessly transitioning into a new era of Dallas basketball. 

If there was one guy who could understand what Doncic’s journey through the NBA has been like, it’s Dirk. Before he had even made it to the league, Nowitzki was being lauded as the next best European player, with Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen backing this claim as well, increasing the amount of pressure placed on him. 

The same went for Luka Doncic who was a basketball prodigy in the EuroLeague at merely 16 years of age. Throughout their 2018-19 season together, the two got close, as expected. 

When describing his relationship with Luka, Dirk went on to say that he wasn’t exactly a mentor but more of an ‘elderly friend’.

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Dirk and Luka Doncic embrace at the World Cup Qualifiers. 

Slovenian basketball is back on the world stage after being lauded as the dark horse to win gold at the 2020 Olympics. Of course, the sole reason for that was the fact that they had Luka Doncic on their squad. 

Prior to their qualifying match against Sweden, Luka would notice a familiar face in the tunnel and come to realize that it was none other than his ‘elderly friend’ and also future Hall-of-Famer, Dirk Nowitzki. 

Luka would sneak up behind him and the two would share an embrace that would eventually turn into the German legend squishing the Slovenian prodigy’s belly, causing NBA Twitter to go up in a bit of stir. 

Dirk isn’t without his antics of course as he would sit courtside of the SWE-SLO game and hurl ‘overrated’ chants at Doncic while at the free throw line. Safe to say that these two lovable Mavericks icons are quite nearly impossible to hate.

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