DALLAS — Relationships matter in life, a lot, even for globally famous sports stars.
Such is the case for Mavericks guard Luka Doncic.
Little did Doncic know on Feb. 28, when he met U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda C. Blanchard before the Mavs-Heat game on Slovenian Night at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, that he soon would need Blanchard’s help.
And Doncic almost certainly didn’t fathom that the help he would need stemmed from a developing worldwide pandemic that would force the NBA season into hiatus on the night of March 11, just 12 days after that Dallas-Miami game.
The hiatus would last more than 100 days, during which Doncic returned to his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia. International travel can be complicated under normal circumstances. International travel during a world pandemic is far more intricate and potentially problematic.
Now add the helplessness and anxiety of being separated from loved ones by 5,522 miles — the flying distance between Dallas and Slovenia.
“It was (stressful),” Doncic said Thursday during a Zoom call with reporters, following the Mavericks’ second mandatory practice as the NBA attempts a season restart.
“The same thing is going to happen when we go to Orlando. “I’m not going to see my family, my friends, for a long time. I think it’s after the first round (of the playoffs?), right, that they can come? It’s going to be mostly the same thing.”
Mavericks fans probably will be glad to know that Doncic plans to be in Orlando for a while.
When he returned to Dallas from Slovenia, Doncic tweeted this:
“I’m excited to be back in Dallas with my teammates and finish the season. My family and I are grateful for the support we received from Ambassador Lynda Blanchard and the Embassy when I came home to Slovenia. I appreciate it very much. @USEmbassySLO”
Blanchard, reached by The News, was appreciative of Doncic’s tweet.
“I had met Luka and his mother at the game against the Miami Heat, and know personally how important it is to be with one’s friends and family during such uncertain times,” she said. “Like U.S. embassies across the world, we in Ljubljana have spent the past several months helping Americans who needed to get back to the U.S. when the COVID crisis struck, but also the many Slovenians who have close ties to the U.S. and travel there frequently.”
Ljubljana-based Blanchard and her embassy staff were able to connect Doncic’s personal advisors at BDA Sports Management in contact with the Slovenian embassy in Washington, D.C. to ensure that he was aware of requirements for entry into Slovenia. Those contacts later made sure Doncic and his family knew where to find the latest information on regulations for re-entering the U.S.
“She (Blanchard) helped me from the United States during corona to Slovenia, with all the papers you’ve got to do,” Doncic said Thursday. “And to come back (to Dallas), too. It was very helpful.”
This NBA season began in October with 108 of the 450 players on opening rosters hailing from 38 international countries and territories. The Mavericks opened the season with an NBA-high seven international players, headlined by Doncic and Latvian Kristaps Porzingis.
Doncic and Porzingis were the only international Mavericks who returned home during the pandemic. Doncic and Porzingis then helplessly watched as the virus continued to spread and travel restrictions tightened, including international flights to the United States.
On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security issued an order that exempted “certain foreign professional athletes who compete in professional sporting events organized by certain leagues, including their essential staff and their dependents, from proclamations barring their entry into the U.S.”
It wasn’t until June 8 that NBA officials, during a conference call with player agents, advised that international players return to their NBA markets by June 15.
Seven days. Not much notice under the circumstances. Doncic and Porzingis didn’t make it back within that time frame, but were in Dallas in time to join teammates and Mavericks staff in the virus testing protocol that began on June 23.
In Doncic’s case, with the aid of a new, well-connected friend.
“I always say that my job as ambassador is to connect people, and that is what we did in this case — made sure Luka had the information he needed to get home, then knew how to stay apprised of the situation in the U.S. and what would be required for him to return,” Blanchard said. “He’s an amazing basketball player, but also a great sports ambassador for Slovenia, so we’re glad to see he made it back to Dallas safely.”
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