MEXICO CITY — Luka Doncic won over the Mexican crowd before Thursday’s game at Arena Ciudad de México even began. In the moments before the tipoff of the league’s 29th game played in Mexico, Doncic took the microphone and asked them in Spanish how they were doing. “Hola México,” he said, “¿Cómo estás?” He added some further pleasantries. And then he said this.
“¡Viva México, güey!”
Luka addresses the crowd en español before the game!@luka7doncic | #MFFL pic.twitter.com/clUp3uvpge
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 13, 2019
Listen to the resulting noise. It was a surprised cheer, one that rose in volume as the crowd processed what was said. Viva México, of course, essentially means “long live Mexico.” It’s an expression of solidarity and support for the nation frequently shared among countrymen. But güey, pronounced and sometimes spelled wey, is a slang term used to refer to people without using their name. We do that constantly in English: “Hey, man,” “Yo, dude,” “What’s up, guy,” “Bro,” “Homie,” and so on. If said in a negative context, güey could mean something more like “fool,” or if Doncic hadn’t kept it PG-rated, he might have said, “Viva México, cabrónes.” But while most Mexicans might curse like it’s nothing, that’s not what Doncic was going for. He just wanted to show them this.
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Of course, the crowd swelled with noise in appreciation and amusem*nt. This is a Slovenian basketball superstar who learned their language during his formative years living in Spain. He is now dominating the world’s best league in the United States and has come to Mexico thanks to that. He spoke to them in their native language and used a slang term that they would have never expected him to know.
And then he put on a show.
The major news coming from the Mavericks’ 122-111 win against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday wasn’t Doncic’s 41-point triple-double, or Seth Curry’s breakout 30-point inferno of a game, or even that it was the team’s 11th win in its last 13 tries. An hour before the game, the NBA held a press conference that included commissioner Adam Silver, announcing that a G League team in Mexico City would begin operations for the 2020-21 season. In the grand scheme, that was the main event.
It’s not reallybreaking news. Two years ago, The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported on this imminent possibility. But news had been quiet ever since; it was clear the league was still working towards this plan, but less clear when and where it would actually transpire. Now we know.
If not the major news, the league still must have been pleased about the resulting 48-minute show. One player told me afterward it almost felt like it was an All-Star exhibition thanks to the back-and-forth scoring surges and highlight plays galore. Andre Drummond nearly missed it with an allergic reaction to avocados that caused his eyes to swell up before the game. Maybe he should have missed it, because then Kristaps Porzingis dunked on him. “You suppose to be my mans,” Drummond jokingly tweeted afterwards. And then Porzingis and Doncic did their best to recreate the iconic LeBron James-Dwyane Wade photo after a vicious alley-oop. You can be the judge of how close (or not close)they came:
The rest of this story isn’t really about the game, which followed a similar script that Dallas has been using on the road against lesser teams all year. But, by the way, the team now has nine wins away from home, already matching their total from last season (9-32). One thing remains certain: Luka ismuy fantástico.
I got lost in a Mexican mall Thursday afternoon after shootaround. I had packed light this trip — maybe too light — stuffing everything into a single backpack that would be easier to haul around after checking out of my hotel Friday. I thought I might buy a nicer collared shirt for the game, and so I ended up here. Within minutes, I felt like I was in a corn maze.
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This mall’s layout was different from any I’ve ever seen. It’s essentially as if the entire thing was one enormous department store – maybe it was? – with minimal divisions between sections and stores. The world-famous brands like Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger had signage everywhere. But there was no window shopping because there were hardly any windows. The walkway where an American mall-goer might travel from one storefront to the next was nonexistent. It was all semi-open space filled up with clothing racks, perfumes, jewelry, pricey alcohol, and it never stopped sprawling out in front of me as far as I could see.
Photo by Tim Cato
Now imagine that’s Mexico City. The largest North American city, with its population over nine million, sprawls out in every different direction. It doesn’t always have clear divisions between neighborhoods, but it continually takes up any open space. The highway system, such that it is, bounces and bumps its way through neighborhoods and manufacturing districts with little distinction. There are smells and colors everywhere trying to capture your attention just as the mall’s own name brands might.
Sometimes, it feels like there isn’t any division between driving lanes, either. Cars move like New Yorkers walk: with absolute conviction that they own any surface around them that will help get them from Point A to Point B. But this behavior is mutually understood. I can hardly remember more than one or two instances of a horn honking despite countless moments that would have triggered instant American road rage. The driving is a fast-paced round of Tetris and the goal is fitting everyone without any space to spare. The density is necessary in a city that fits one-and-a-half million more people than the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex into a space that’s 16 times smaller.
No wonder street vendors can hawk tamales and Gatorades on nearly every corner. There will never be any shortage of customers. Maybe it sounds like chaos, but it’s mutually embraced chaos that grows more organized the more you live it. I loved it – even if I didn’t ever find that shirt I was looking for.
It should be noted that these are observations made after spending only 36 hours in Mexico City, mostly in the Polanco neighborhood, by myself, a non-Spanish-speaking gringo. This is where the Mavericks hotel was located with the league’s hotel just another block down the street. It’s certainly the neighborhood that made the most sense for wealthy Americans. It’s described like this by Eater:
It’s easy to dismiss Polanco — the Beverly Hills of Mexico City — as a skippable part of town overrun by politicos, their cronies, very wealthy locals and very wealthy tourists. Still, it’s likely you’ll end up here for one reason or another: The city’s fanciest hotels stand in this area, and so are some of its most highly-rated restaurants. Unfortunately, they share space with American-import chain restaurants, tourist-trap quasi-European wine bars, and Starbucks. Steer clear of those options and consider these far better picks.
They really weren’t joking about the Starbucks, that’s for sure. I must have walked by nearly a half-dozen of them.
The incoming G League team will test the possibility of establishing a full-time NBA franchise here if the league were to ever expand. “It’s certainly something that we’ve talked about in the past,” Adam Silver said in the press conference. He clarified that the league is not “in expansion mode” right now, and that the G League team would exist on its own merits to first and foremost help further grow basketball in the country. It’s impossible not to think about the possibility, though.
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“This kind of initiative for us with the G League team always helps all the variables that could be used precisely for this type of analysis,” Raul Zarraga told The Athletic.
Zarraga, 49, also one of press conference participants, is the vice president and managing director of NBA Mexico. He’s a charming fellow whose passion for this city came across throughout the night, even when we spoke in the third quarter after what must have been an exhausting gauntlet of interviews in the past few days.
“It’s important to understand, in Mexico, that we have a lot of fans of basketball, and we will always be looking for alternatives that will help them enjoy the basketball,” he said. “It’s not all about putting the games on TV. It’s that they need to touch, feel, breathe the basketball. And this is exactly what we are offering them.”
Zarraga said there are 20 million NBA fans in Mexico, which could be called a good start for a country that has about 130 million people in total. It’s completely conceivable how this new G League franchise, which is partnering with a local team called Capitanes, could boost the sport and Mexico’s own first league, Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional. The country’s passion for the sport will need to continue before serious talks about putting a franchise here would even make sense.
Even then, there would be difficulties, of course. Although Mexico City is a three-hour flight from, say, Dallas, it’s closer to six for teams like Portland and Boston. Toronto famously struggled to sign free agents during its early years as a franchise, and the Spanish-speaking Mexico City would be an even bigger cultural shock, at least for American players. (On the other hand, for international players, places like Minnesota or Charlotte are surely much more foreign.) Arena Ciudad de México adequately suited the needs of Thursday’s game, but the tiny locker rooms prevented open media access and players entered and exited down the same tunnel. While the city is much less dangerous than the stereotypes claim, it does feel like safety — in armed guards and security fences — has been commodified. Could NBA millionaires look past that to feel at home?
The new G League team, unaffiliated with any current franchise, can certainly provide some of those answers.
That’s all thought experiment. Like the league and Zarraga both said, this initiative is mostly about growing basketball in Mexico. There’s no question the NBA continues to reach far outside the North American borders. But with a 30th NBA Mexico game being played on Saturday, a fan store opening this week in Polanco and the continued funding of an NBA global academy here in the city, there’s no country that has seen more outreach.
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This all helps. But you could also imagine what a true Mexican star might do for this country, too. Mexico has only produced four NBA players; only two, Gustavo Ayon and the Mavericks-employed Eduardo Najera, have played more than a season’s worth of games. None are currently active. Zarraga referenced how players like Manu Ginobili (Argentina) and Al Horford (Dominican Republic) have caused local grassroots fandom to emerge simply due to their success.
“The level of basketball will be amazing (in the G League),” Zarraga said. “We need to be at the level. We need to have local talent, and this is part of the process.”
In the meantime, the Spanish-speaking Doncic living and playing in Texas while turning into a global superstar might be the closest thing they have. I saw dozens of fans wearing his jerseys during Thursday’s game, and at least one massive printout of his face. He was cheered as loud as anyone coming onto the court for warmups. And then he spoke to them.
Photo by Tim Cato
Viva México, wey, indeed.
Top photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images
