Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic missed two games on the team’s East Coast road trip, sitting out Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors and Friday night against the Boston Celtics. When Doncic was initially ruled out, the Lakers cited personal reasons without any further explanation.
However, it was quickly rumored that Luka had returned to Slovenia to be with his fiancée Anamaria Goltes, as she was expected to give birth to their second daughter. The Lakers star announced on Saturday morning that their second daughter, Olivia, was born.
Doncic returned to the Lakers on Sunday to play in their road game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and stuffed the statsheet in the game. He finished with 31 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists while helping lead the Lakers to their first win in Philadelphia in eight years.
After the game, Luka was asked about now having two daughters and what that means to him. He gave an earnest answer, followed by a joke about what that’s going to do to his life, via the NBA on X:
“It’s the best thing in the world. Obviously, two girls, they’re going to make my life hell, for sure. I know that. I’m going to be their security after I retire. All jokes aside, it’s the best thing in the world. I’m just blessed.”
Doncic is always good for a laugh in his media availability, but spends more time talking about how happy he is to be a father to two daughters. And this line of thinking is very familiar to any Lakers fan, as it is the exact way that Kobe Bryant used to talk about his family.
He was a proud girl dad, and it became one of his defining legacies after his tragic death in 2020. Doncic and Bryant were fairly close, and had several great public moments together. It seems almost poetic that Doncic, now a Laker, would carry on Kobe’s public love of being a girl dad.
LeBron James congratulates Luka Doncic on second daughter
Luka Doncic was away from the Lakers for two games while traveling to Slovenia to be with his fiancée for the expected birth of their daughter. LeBron James and Austin Reaves led L.A. to a win in his absence, while they lost the other game that the 40-year-old sat.
Luka’s fiancée Anamaria Goltes gave birth to their second daughter, and the Lakers star took to Instagram to announce the news on Saturday morning. Olivia now joins Gabriela as the second daughter of the Doncic-Goltes family.
And quickly after Doncic’s celebratory post, James was one of the first to leave a congratulatory comment.
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