”Watch out, they're gonna come after you” — Luka Doncic reveals what Kobe Bryant warned him about
Luka Dončić and Kobe Bryant
It was the last time Kobe Bryant was in Staples to watch the Lakers - December 29th, 2019. Little did we know our hearts would be broken a month later. The most memorable moment from that game is a moment Kobe shared with Luka Dončić. In a classic Mamba fashion, Kobe came prepared.
Met once before
In the second part of his career, Kobe tried to be a mentor for the upcoming superstars. As Jackie MacMullan will reveal in her upcoming podcast series, it’s a long tradition in the NBA. Dr. J gave MJ his number and told him, “call me.” MJ did the same for Kobe, and we found out all about their relationship during Jordan’s emotional speech at Kobe’s memorial.
Bryant obviously saw greatness in Luka and gave him a friendly warning before Luka ever stepped foot on an NBA court.
“I met him before, it was in Portland. Just after I was drafted, it was on the Nike campus. One advice he gave me was 'Watch out, they're gonna come after you, cause you're from Europe. They're gonna try come after you.' And it was true.”
Luka Dončić, The Old Man & The Three
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Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for Kobe to give his number to Luka and tell him to call anytime he needed advice or an opinion. But the one piece of advice he gave the young Slovenian confirmed something Luka was expecting - that he’s going to be targeted because he’s a white guy from Europe.
American arrogance
When you heard Joel Embiid was from Cameroon, you pictured a scene from National Geographic or Discovery. Most Americans did, that’s why Joel pranked his college classmates by convincing them he killed a lion as a six-year-old to prove he was a man - and they bought it! To provide some context, here’s Embiid’s hometown, Yaoundé.
Yaoundé, Cameroon
Embiid saw most of his gazelles and lions the same way you and I did. He later explained the made-up story was how he tried to teach his Kansas teammates their heads were full of stereotypes.
“Americans don’t really have any idea what’s going on in the world, especially us Africans,” Embiid said. “When they think about Africans, they think about us running around with lions and tigers and all those other animals. When I got to Kansas I kind of used that to my advantage, talking about how I killed a lion and that’s how I became a man. At six years old I had to go into the jungle and kill a lion and had to carry it on my back and carry it back to the village to show I’m a man. And they bought into it…I don’t know. It might be true or it might be false. I don’t know. But that’s the perception.”
We saw the same after the whole Nikola Jokić - Markieff Morris bout. Everyone started talking about Jokić being in trouble because the Morris twins are rough guys. David Aldridge quickly set the record straight on his podcast.” I ain’t messin’ with no Serbians,” DA said and pointed out any time you come from a country that’s been described as “war-torn,” you are not to be messed around with.
But for some reason, NBA players think guys in Europe grow up in luxury and abundance. As if there are no ghettos in France, Poland, Serbia, or Croatia. Violence, poverty, and crime are somehow exclusive to the United States. After the Miami crowd booed Jokić a little bit in his first game there after the Morris situation, he walked off with a smile and reminded everyone “I played in Serbia, brother.”
