Celje - The Celje municipality has unveiled two basketball courts financed or co-financed by the NBA club Dallas Mavericks, often dubbed as the Mavs, to support young local players and to pay homage to the club and its star and one of the best basketball players in the world currently, Luka Dončić.

The first court, named Mavs, has been fully financed by the Mavericks. It is located next to the Celje dormitory for secondary school students.

The court is painted in seven hues of blue, making up seven circles, as royal blue and navy blue are among Dallas Mavericks team colours and seven is the number associated with Dončić.

The jerseys of the Slovenian NBA star sport the number 77 both in his club and the national basketball team, as his lucky number 7 was already taken when he joined both teams.

At the centre of the court is the Mavs logo and underneath both baskets there are the three yellow Celje stars that can be found in the city's coat of arms to highlight good cooperation with the Mavericks, said Bojan Šrot, the long-serving mayor of Celje.

Mavs is the first court in Europe to be set up by an NBA club, he added. The Mavericks allocated EUR 152,000 to the project.

The second court is called Dončić and is situated near a gas pump on one of the main roads in Celje. It was funded by the NBA club (EUR 20,000) and the municipality (EUR 70,000).

Both courts are meant to be used by young basketball players from the Celje area.

After he was born in 1999, Dončić lived in Celje for a short while because at the time his father, Saša Dončić, played for the local club Pivovarna Laško, now Zlatorog Laško.

This was also the reason for the municipality's decision to help build the Dončić court, the mayor said, adding that the local authorities were striving to revive the old glory days of Celje's basketball.

Today's court unveiling was attended by Mavericks representative Katie Edwards and the head of the Slovenian Basketball Association, Matej Erjavec.