Luka Doncic is a once in a generation talent. Before even making it to the NBA at the age of 19, Luka had already established himself as one of the greatest players in European basketball history. He won several titles including the Euroleague championship and was named the MVP of Spain’s national league and the MVP of the Euroleague. As soon as he landed in the US, he became a dominant force for the Dallas Mavericks. Sneakerheads eagerly awaited to see what brand would sign Luka and to see what Luka Doncic Shoes would be like.
Luka Doncic would sign a 5 year deal with Jordan Brand in 2019 and has been rocking some excellent PEs on-court ever since. Luka fans have been patiently waiting for his first signature with the brand.
In this article, we go over Luka Doncic’s sneaker history, from his time as an amateur in Spain to the present day.
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Luka Doncic Shoes
Luka Doncic Shoes: Dallas Mavericks
2023-24 Season
Luka again found a way to outdo himself during the 23/24 season. Luka had his best individual season averaging a league-leading 33.9 ppg, 9.2 rbpg, and 9.8 apg. He was selected to the all-star team, was named to the All-NBA first team, and finished 3rd in the MVP voting. But, more importantly, he won the Western Conference Finals MVP and took his underdog Mavs to the finals. Ultimately they would fall to Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in 5 games, but, it was a huge achievement to carry the 5th seeded Mavericks to the finals.
Also, during the Playoffs Luka debuted his 3rd signature sneaker, but he used them very sparingly. Luka seemed to prefer his 1st signature shoe, and he would primarily rock that shoe, even during the finals. We recently got our hand on a pair of Luka 3s, and, simply put, the fall short of expectations, especially given its $130 price tag.
Performance on court should be fine, but it feels slightly subpar. The lack of innovation is also a bummer, both in terms of tech and all-around aesthetics. Admittedly, traction and support are standout features, and cater well to shifter players on court, and the cushioning setup will provide a comfortable, zippy, and smooth ride, which will work well for most playing styles.
2022-23 Season
The 2022-23 season has been Luka’s best in the NBA so far. Luka reached a whole other level, which seemed impossible. He turned in averages of 32.4 ppg, 8.6 rbpg, and 8 apg, he was named to the All-Star Team and was named to the All-NBA First Team. The Dallas Mavericks as a team, unfortunately, didn’t match Luka’s performance and missed the playoffs, which tarnished somewhat Wonderboy’s season.
Towards the end of the season, Luka also debuted his second signature shoe: the Jordan Luka 2. This shoe is very similar to the Jordan Luka 1 in terms of performance. Judging by the small changes Nike has made in this model, Luka must have very much enjoyed the Luka 1. The only changes made were to further enhance reactiveness and containment: slightly bouncier cushion and improved materials.
2021-22 Season
Up to this point, everyone knew that Luka was an almost unstoppable force on-court during the regular season, but this year he got a chance to showcase his talents during the playoffs.
Luka averaged 28.4 ppg, 9.1 rbpg , and 8.7 apg during the regular season and led the Dallas Mavericks to 52 wins (4th in the Western Conference). He was named to the All-Star team and finished 5th in the MVP voting for the year. But more importantly, he was able to take his game to a new level, displaying a greater even greater decisiveness in big moments.
The Mavericks would face the Donovan Mitchell led Utah Jazz in the first round of the play offs. The Mavs entered the series as clear underdogs, especially considering that Luka would miss the first three games. But, the Mavericks held the Jazz at bay until Luka could make it back on court, and with the team at full force, the Jazz were unable to take down the Mavs. Dallas would take the series in 6 games and Luka averaged 29 ppg, 10.7 rbpg, and 5.7 apg over three games.
The Mavs moved on to the second round where they would face the team with the best regular-season record, the Phoenix Suns.
As far as sneakers go, Luka wore several different Jordan Brand Models during the season:
Jordan Luka 1
Luka finally got his first signature shoe with the Jordan brand during the 2021-22 playoffs. Luka entered the playoffs injured, but that didn’t stop Jordan from announcing the launch of the Luka 1. Luka sat out the first 3 games of the series, and would finally make it on court for game 4 and played in his new signature shoe.
the Luka 1 features Jordan Brands’s new IsoPlate system on the lateral forefoot area for containment and a new Formula 23 foam for a lightweight and responsive. The Luka 1 is set to release on June 30th and should retail for $110.
During the off-season, while playing with the Slovenian national team, Luka broke out a c couple of new colorways of the Jordan Luka 1, including a flashy pair of all-red joints with an embroidered gold version of his logo on the tongue.
At the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, it was clear that Luka would be rockin the Jordan 36 from the jump. Several of the launch colorways were Luka-centric, including a Slovenian-themed pair and a white and gold Mavs version.
The Jordan 36 was an obvious choice for Luka as it’s one of the best performance basketball shoes of 2021-22. The shoe is packed with premium features including a full-length air stroble, plus a forefoot Zoom Air unit for cushion, great traction, and light-weight high-performance materials. A signature fit for an MVP candidate.
We also saw several other NBA stars lacing up the Jordan 36 including the Boston Celtic’s Jason Tatum and Washington Wizards star shooting guard, Bradley Beal.
Jordan 36 Low
A couple of Jordan athletes got the Low version of the excellent Jordan 36 including Bradley Beal and Bam Adebayo. But the only player who got a PE version of the shoe, and that was Luka Doncic. Chris Paul got a great special edition version for All-star weekend with his owl logo on the tongue, as well as Winston Salem University’s logo on the heel.
The Jordan 36 Low offers all the excellent performance features of the Jordan 36 in a sleeker, more minimal package. Luka’s PEs feature Luka’s logo on the tongue of the shoe.
2020-21 Season
Luka turned in an amazing 2020-21 season that unfortunately didn’t translate into victories for the Dallas Mavericks. At only 21 years of age he averaged 27.7 ppg, 8.0 apg, and 8.6 rbpg knocking down 3 threes a game. He was named to his second straight all-star team and to the All-NBA first team.
Going into the 2021 season it was unclear which Jordan model would grab Luka’s attention. He has had a tendency to shy away from Jordan’s signature models, but the Slovenian superstar did finally go for the Jordan 35 for the majority of the season.
He showed a particular affinity for the low version of the shoe and broke out a tone of exclusive colorways that almost made you forget that the 35 was a mediocre offering from Jordan.
(Update 4/6) Luka got several new PE’s of the Jordan 35 low and the Jordan React Elevation Low, for the NBA All-Star Game, the Skills Challenge, and regular league play.
Jordan React Elevate Low , Jordan 35 Low and Jordan 35 All-Star
2019-20 Season
On August 23, 2020, Luka Doncic had possibly the best game of his young career. The Slovenian wunderkind scored 43 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and passed for 13 assists. He capped off his incredible Game 4 effort by beating the Clippers in overtime with an amazing game-winning step back 3 pointer. He did all of this after injuring his ankle in the 3rd quarter of the previous game, an injury that forced him to sit out the remainder of a game the Mavs narrowly lost. The incredible series of events showed the NBA that Doncic is was a superstar.
During the regular season leading up to this incredible performance, Luka was again brilliant on court. He averaged a staggering 28.8 ppg, 9.4 rbpg , 8.8 apg, was named to the All-Star team and to the All-NBA first team in only his second season in the league.
The 2019-20 season was also a huge year for Luka sneaker-wise.
Luka Doncic and Jordan Brand
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After a year and a half of sneaker free agency, it would be Jordan brand that would land the Slovenian Superstar. Luka signed a lucrative 5-year contract with Jordan Brand in December 2019.
But Luka’s choice in shoes has been puzzling since signing with Jordan. Instead of consistently rocking Jordan’s flagship model (the excellent Jordan 34), Luka seemed to prefer the Jumpman Diamond.
In 2019-20, Jordan Brand did a good job of putting out some really solid, non-flagship models, but the Jordan 34 was a standout. Which makes Luka’s footwear choices more interesting to sneaker fans.
We saw Luka wear the Jordan 34 on occasion, but they never became his go-to choice.
A detail most sneakerheads probably noticed in that breathtaking Game 4 was how Luka switched out his trusty Jordan Jumpman Diamond Low, which he’d worn consistently after signing with Jordan Brand, for the Jordan React Elevation . After hitting the game-winner, he kept wearing these new “good luck shoes” for the remainder of the series.
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2018-19 Season
Luka’s rookie season was as good as a rookie season can get, which was unexpected for some, but those who had seen him play for Real Madrid must have been thinking “wait until he really turns it on”.
The youngster averaged 21.2 ppg, 7.8 rbpg , 6.0 apg which earned him the NBA Rookie of the Year award. The Mavs also improved with Doncic at the helm, going from 24 wins the previous season to 33 during the 2018-19 season.
As far as his sneakers go, before signing with Jordan Brand, Luka had consistently been a Nike guy. He favored low-top, versatile guard shoes such as PG models (the PG 2.5, PG 2, and PG 3 primarily), several Kobe shoes (mostly the Kobe 4), some Kyrie models, and the 2018 Hyperdunk X Lows, which makes sense, considering his shifty playing
Right before signing with Jordan, Luka had a brief dalliance with Under Armour. Perhaps it was a negotiation tactic, or maybe Seth Curry was in his ear.
Luka had signed a 2 year deal with Nike during his last season with Real Madrid. When this contract ran out, Nike was on the clock and had 180 days of exclusive negotiating rights with Doncic. Once that grace period ran out it was anybody’s game.
Luka wore a couple of different Curry 7 colorways, most noticeably a pair of the acid-green Sour Patch Kids colorway. This made sneaker fans wonder if he would jump ship and head over to Under Armour. But Jordan Brand’s offer was too good to refuse, especially considering that Luka was already an admitted Jordan Brand enthusiast.
Luka Doncic’s ACB and Euroleague shoes
Before leaving Madrid for the NBA, Luka was a Hyperdunk Low and KD guy, using many different 2017 Hyperdunk Low colorways and a wide array of KD 7 and KD 9 colorways that season.
As we mentioned, in this period Luka was signed to an endorsement deal with Nike. Many players from Real Madrid (for example, Mallorca’s own Rudy Fernandez) even on their junior teams, have deals with Nike. This is despite the club’s official sponsor being Adidas. Nike realized they had to act quickly and sign the Slovenian star, who seemed destined for greatness since the age of 17.
