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Slovenian stars Kopitar, Doncic will reunite in Los Angeles
We all know the baseball connection between Los Angeles and Japan. The City of Angels now has deep sporting ties to another far-off place — Slovenia.
We all know the baseball connection between Los Angeles and Japan.
The City of Angels now has deep sporting ties to another far-off place — Slovenia.
After a blockbuster, late-night NBA trade, Slovenian-born Luka Doncic is the newest member of the Los Angeles Lakers. The former Dallas Maverick will play in the same arena as the small country’s biggest hockey star — Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar.
The two first met in 2019 in Dallas when Doncic was in attendance to watch the Mavericks play Kopitar’s Kings.
Kopitar and Doncic posed for a post-game picture and exchanged jerseys.
The Kings brought the moment back to life with a post on X after the trade, saying “the two best Slovenian athletes of all time are now in Los Angeles.”
In his original post of the picture, Kopitar referred to Doncic as “#stud”.
“Yeah, we do keep tabs on each other and cheer each other on,” Kopitar said, per FOX Sports. It’s kind of funny, because for a small country like we are, we have a lot of professional athletes that play in the highest levels. You name it — you’ve got soccer, basketball, there’s myself, ski jumpers are good, skiers are good. It’s pretty fascinating how well we’re represented. And it’s not just one sport. You name it — the versatility of sport, it’s pretty amazing.”
Slovenia has a population of just over two million.
