{"id":455630,"date":"2026-03-03T17:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455630\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:11:21","slug":"novak-djokovic-hailed-the-goat-after-meeting-la-lakers-superstars-lebron-james-and-luka-doncic-as-indian-wells-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/455630\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic hailed ‘the GOAT’ after meeting LA Lakers superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic as Indian Wells nears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch best shots from men’s final between Alcaraz and Djokovic<\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Since his breathtaking run to the Australian Open final<\/a> in January, Novak Djokovic<\/a> has embarked on something of a whistle-stop tour of great sporting events.The 24-time Grand Slam champion was on his feet, his hands on his head in disbelief as he watched Ilia Malinin backflip Team USA to team figure skating gold<\/a> in the opening week of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, before carving out the space in his calendar to attend the EuroLeague basketball match between Olympiacos and Crvena Zvevda.<\/p>\n

And, as he prepares to make his return to the court for Indian Wells in California, Djokovic has soaked up all the state has to offer – including meeting two fellow sporting greats on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

The Serbian – a five-time Indian Wells champion who holds the record of 20 consecutive match victories<\/a> at the tournament – was in attendance as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings 128-104. <\/p>\n

Luka Doncic (28 points) and LeBron James (24) put on a spectacle for the attending Djokovic – who was sat alongside American actress Dyan Cannon at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

After a run of three successive defeats in late February, the Lakers have now secured back-to-back wins.<\/p>\n

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Djokovic produces ‘one of the performances of his life’ to defeat Sinner <\/p>\n

Video credit: TNT Sports<\/p>\n

Albeit against the side with the worst record in the Western Conference, Sunday’s clash saw James and Doncic at their very best, the Slovenian going 10-for-16 with four three-pointers.<\/p>\n

And after the match, sporting legends assembled as Djokovic was pictured with the Lakers pair – one of those heartwarming moments in which genuine titans of their respective sports come together, and in this case, were even a little starstruck by one another.<\/p>\n

“For me, he’s the GOAT,” Doncic told reporters after the match. “So just for him being here watching me, it’s just unreal. I talked to him, I’ll probably see him after, so I’m just really excited he’s here.”<\/p>\n

Djokovic is preparing to take to the court for the first time since he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz in four sets at the Australian Open final. <\/p>\n

His barely-believable run to make it to the final two in Melbourne included a stunning victory over world No. 2 Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, as the 38-year-old came through more than four hours of play across five sets with an all-court masterclass.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has taken on a reduced schedule in recent seasons, but continued on tour while others of his generation have bid farewell to the sport. <\/p>\n

But Indian Wells is a prestigious ATP 1000 tournament, one rung down from the Grand Slams, and serves as a useful exercise a couple months out from Roland Garros – where Djokovic’s bid for a 25th major title will continue.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz and Sinner are also due to compete at Indian Wells, with men’s British No. 1 Jack Draper to defend his title in California. The draw takes place on Monday at 23:00 GMT.<\/p>\n

Watch and stream live tennis – including the 2026 French Open – on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch best shots from men’s final between Alcaraz and Djokovic Video credit: TNT Sports Since his breathtaking run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[164386,101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-455630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-indian-wells-mens-singles-2026","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}