NBA star Luka Dončić spotted in Overwatch 2 Grandmaster lobby

Dallas Mavericks player is a high-level Tank
NBA star Luka Dončić spotted in Overwatch 2 Grandmaster lobby
NBA star Luka Dončić spotted in Overwatch 2 Grandmaster lobby /
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Luka Dončić, the Dallas Mavericks NBA star, is well-known to be passionate about Overwatch and also seems to enjoy the first-person shooter’s sequel a lot. Being a top basketball athlete apparently doesn’t stop Dončić from achieving a pretty high rank in Overwatch 2, as he was recently spotted in a Grandmaster lobby in the game – in the title’s ranking system that’s the group of players below the top 500, so anyone in that skill range knows what they’re doing.

Dončić was discovered by pure chance during an Overwatch 2 broadcast on the Twitch stream of m0xyy, who regularly plays the game (thanks, Dexerto). Playing duo with a friend, m0xyy came upon a player with the nickname Donatello – yes, like the Italian Renaissance artist and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle – queuing for the Tank role. After playing a round, Donatello asked m0xyy if he was the popular Twitch streamer over the game’s voice chat, since he was a bit of a fan.

A third team mate then asked Donatello about his hobbies, to which he responded with “I play basketball.” He then answered “Dallas Mavericks” when asked if he played at a gym or on an actual team. That obviously unexpected response led to some confusion, but Donatello kept clarifying that he was talking about the actual NBA team.

Reinhardt in Overwatch 2.
Dončić mainly seems to play the Tank class in Overwatch 2 / Blizzard Entertainment

Pressed by his Twitch chat, which started spamming that Donatello was actually Dončić, m0xyy asked him about his identity directly, which Donatello confirmed to be the NBA star. Not believing the story quite yet, m0xyy began asking questions about Dončić, like his birthday and the name of his mother, which Donatello answered without any hesitation. “I know, I’m him,” Dončić said.

Comparing the voice heard on stream to how Dončić sounds like on TV definitely checks out as well, so this rare sighting was definitely authentic and a pretty cool moment for the streamer – and probably for Dončić as well, since he watches m0xyy sometimes.

Gameplay-wise, the NBA star also seems very deserving of his Grandmaster ranking. Though he previously stated on social media that his favorite heroes were Roadhog, Hanzo, and Cassidy, he very competently played as Reinhardt and Zarya during the matches with m0xyy, doing a great job fulfilling his role.

Scoring points in the world’s premier basketball league and protecting his teammates in Overwatch 2 – Luka Dončić can do it all.


Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg