Alex Ovechkin saves Luka Doncic after he goes off the court

ByNBAUSA



Alex Ovechkin with assistance! It’s a phrase hockey fans heard 750 times during Ovie’s 21-year career with the Washington Capitals. On Friday night, the NHL’s all-time leading scorer added another assist how he saved Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić from falling out of bounds against the Washington Wizards.

At the end of the third quarter, in what would prove to be a 142-111 victoryWizards Kyshawn George and Jamir Watkins pushed Doncic off the field and into the sidelines. Luckily, the 6-foot-3, 238-pound hockey star was sitting there and easily stopped the 6-foot-8, 230-pound hooper from tumbling into the crowd.

While this moment brought happiness to Doncic and the fans in the front row, it was also the meeting of two of the best non-North American players to ever play the sport.

Alex Ovechkin, who hails from Moscow, Russia, has scored more goals (919) than any NHL player in history. And with those 750 assists, his 1,669 points rank 10th in league history. The only non-North American player ahead of him on that list is Czechoslovakia’s Jaromir Jagr.

In his sport, Luka Doncic is quickly rising to the ranks of the best foreign-born players of all time. Through eight seasons, Dončić has 14,193 points. At this rate, if he were to play in his early 30s, the Slovenian from Ljubljana would easily jump into the top 20 scorers in league history. At that point, only Hakeem Olajuwon (Lagos, Nigeria) and Dirk Nowitzki (Wurzburg, Germany) would be ahead of him among non-American-born players.

Doncic got a little closer to Olajuwon and Nowitzki on Friday night while Ovechkin watched as he added 37 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in the Lakers’ win over the Wizards.





2026-01-31 16:16:00

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