Goran Dragic wanted to play one more game before he officially retired from professional basketball. The long-time NBA guard brought some of his superstar friends to his home country of Slovenia this weekend for one final send-off for charity, and it gave us some hilarious and entertaining moments during the darkest months of the NBA offseason.
Denver Nuggets MVP Nikola Jokic and Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic were the headline names out to support Dragic. Jokic was in a jovial mood from the very start, trying some things he’d never attempt on an NBA court — and actually pulling them off.
Early in the game, Jokic got a steal, went coast-to-coast, and threw himself a lob off the backboard over Dragic to finish with a dunk. This is pure magic.
Jokic may be one of the biggest players in the NBA, but he’s not exactly a dunker. In 675 career regular season games, Jokic has only dunked 182 times, per basketball-reference. At 284 pounds, Jokic was listed as the third heaviest player in the NBA last year. He can still get up when he wants to, but it’s so funny to see Jokic throw a lob to himself on a fastbreak.
That might not have even been Jokic’s best highlight of the night. Here’s a dribble-handoff with Robin Lopez, where Jokic goes into a side-step one-footed three-pointer for some reason. Of course, he hits nothing but net.
Doncic’s highlights were, uh, a little less impressive.
It seems like Doncic will be playing himself into shape to start the season for the Mavericks.
Congrats to Dragic for a tremendous career. He threw one heck of a party on his way out.
