After Luka Dončić’s much awaited homecoming to Dallas on April 9, his first time back in the city after getting traded out of the blue to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dončić didn’t leave with his team after the game.
After the Los Angeles Lakers got the win over the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers flew back to L.A., but Luka Dončić stayed the night. In Dallas, he hosted parties for patients at Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas and Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, through The Luka Dončić Foundation.
He also took the time to donate to a dozen GoFundMe pages for local youth teams and athletes. Among others, a Fort Worth girl’s basketball team that needed new uniforms, proper equipment for a soccer team and he helped a teen from Mesquite with NBA dreams of his own pay for AAU basketball, all donations totaling just over $21,000.
But why did the new Lakers star stay in Dallas and make an effort to reach out to the local community? Most superstars would just have tried to move on and focus on their new home.
I asked the Luka Dončić Foundation what it is about the city of Dallas that made him want to stick around and help all these people:
“Dallas will always be special to Luka, and he wanted to make sure the community felt the same love he felt for so many years,” said Luka Dončić Foundation CEO Lara Beth Seager.
“It was meaningful for him to give back during his return to the Dallas community that made him feel at home for many years,” Seager said.
Dončić also donated $500,000 through the foundation to recovery efforts following the L.A. wildfires, just days after arriving in February.
It’s incredibly important for him to give back to the communities that embrace him,” Seager said, emphasizing how much he appreciates the support he has received from fans both in Dallas and now in L.A.
Back in Dallas, many fans are still mourning the loss of their Slovenian franchise player, and it doesn’t look like Mavs fans will get over the trade any time soon.
What does all of this say about Dončić’s connection to Dallas still? And maybe always? Seager answered:
“Luka will always hold Dallas in a special place in his heart and forever be grateful for the love and passion the city and those fans showed him throughout his time as a Mav.
And it seems that It’s not just business to Luka Dončić, who’s on to a new city now. When it comes to Dallas, it’s personal:
“Those fans were with him through so much, the support they showed him last week (the homecoming game on April 9) was incredible.”
“They’ve always made him feel like family,” Lara Beth Seager said, underlining the special connection Dončić still feels towards Mavs fans and the city of Dallas.
