It didn’t take long for Los Angeles Lakers stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to develop a strong friendship off the court, which also includes some good-natured competition.
Doncic and Reaves both spoke to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin about their growing bromance and detailed some aspects of their spirited rivalry, including Doncic admitting that he doesn’t want to test his teammate’s golf skills.
“I’m ducking him,” Doncic said. “I can’t golf.”
Reaves, in turn, conceded that Doncic “is the favorite in foosball.” Even though he doesn’t watch football, he made a friendly wager that the Minnesota Vikings would defeat Doncic’s “beloved” Dallas Cowboys in Week 15.
“I saw that we had — I don’t love saying this — many similarities in how we like to compete in all different things,” Reaves said. “Not just basketball. Whatever. Cards, bowling, darts … which he hasn’t beaten me at either.”
Even when Doncic invited Reaves over to his place for a friendly dinner, more competition arose.
“He was like, ‘Come over. We’re bowling,'” Reaves said.
Upon his arrival, Reaves found Doncic with two of his friends, Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean and the team’s head video coordinator, Michael Wexler. They divided themselves into three-man teams and played multiple games.
“But it all really came down to the 1-on-1 at the end,” Reaves said.
However, the two guards have different memories of how the night played out from that point.
“We bowled for, I think, maybe three games,” Reaves said. “And, yeah, I’m 3-0.”
“I’m sure he said he won,” Doncic said when informed of Reaves’ answer.
Doncic and Reaves will be putting their on-court chemistry on full display when the Lakers take on the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day.