NBA players may be high-performing athletes who are also highly paid but that doesn’t mean that they’re out of reach of the ordinary person.
At least, not most of them. In any case, MVP hopeful Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks showed on January 16 that he’s MVP material not only on the court but also off it when he met with a young fan who had epilepsy.
The touching encounter occurred at the American Airlines Center just before the Dallas Mavericks win, 123-111, over the Brooklyn Nets.
Watch the heartwarming encounter below!
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Video credit: Rumble
Mavs assistant Darrell Armstrong noticed a fan holding up a sign and when he read what was on it, he just had to come over.
The sign read, “My doc said: Watching Luka helps my epilepsy! 9 months no seizures!”
The young fan’s name was Brayden Whitley who was with his father Ryan. When Armstrong got to them, he carried Brayden out of the stands and onto the court. When Brayden was already standing on the court, Armstrong held his hand as they were walked towards Luka during the shootaround.
Brayden, who was wearing a Doncic jersey, couldn’t contain both his excitement and shock. He kept repeating, “I’m actually going to meet Luka?! I’m going to meet Luka?”
And Doncic, with the heart of a champion of a person that he is, talked to Brayden and even posed for a photo with him on the court.
Doncic was practicing some free throws when the wide-eyed Brayden came close to tell him how much of an impact the NBA has had on his health. Despite being interrupted from his warm-up, Doncic didn’t seem to mind at all and even welcomed his young fan.
Brayden was all smiles by the time they both had their photos taken.
But that wasn’t the end of the interaction at all. Doncic sought out Brayden after the game and this time he had a gift in hand. He handed the starstruck fun with his sneakers (and even signed them) as admiring fans chanted “Luka!”
Although Christmas is over and it’s just the start of the year, it’s probably safe to say that Doncic’s present is already Brayden’s favorite gift of the year.
When interviewed about his interaction with Brayden, Doncic said that it was important to connect with fans.
“As players, we gotta connect with the fans somehow. You know you’re never going to connect with everybody, it’s really hard,” he said. “But you know when you see those kids, I want to [do] everything possible to give them something. And this was a pleasure for me.”
Replaced!