Published on March 28, 2026
As I walked into a Sunset Boulevard venue this past February, Luka Dončić’s face greeted me, flashing across a wall of old-school televisions. The TV screens flickered between a surreal reel of images: Dončić’s mug, an NTSC rainbow effect, a Valentine sweetheart candy image with the words “too small,” and a graphic with the words “Lil Luka’s Heartbreak Factory: Level 1.”
For the uninitiated, this scene probably makes no sense. But for superfans of Dončić, star player of the Los Angeles Lakers, the messages are like a secret code to a new kind of fandom.
In February, Dončić celebrated the launch of his new direct-to-fans media company, 77X, a venue into his personal brand playground. Dončić’s team built out a space around his personal aesthetic—think: old-school video games—that featured a basketball court, candy shop, flower stand, photo booth, and a gift shop adorned with “Lil’ Luka,” Dončić’s alter ego.
This three-day activation was Dončić’s first proof of concept for 77X, which he is using to push his NBA brand beyond merchandise drops and brand sponsors. For Dončić, 77X is an opportunity to create a completely self-owned platform that can serve as a universe for his fandom , commerce, and community under his own banner.
“I want to feel like I connect with the fans, bring them out here so they can help me build this and show them what I like so they get to know me better,” Dončić tells Fast Company.
In the current landscape of basketball, elite athletes are renegotiating their standing with leagues and brand sponsors. Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown launched 741, his independent sneaker brand, and Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry ended his 13-year relationship with Under Armour to operate his Curry brand independently. These athletes recognize that the future of fandom is a direct connection that can’t be mediated through third-party brand deals.
“The traditional athlete model is super fragmented,” says Lara Beth Seager, chief brand officer and business manager for Dončić and 77X CEO.
Traditionally, content, merchandise, collectibles, and community are split across different stakeholders. Since most of these pillars are controlled , brand partners, social platforms, or retail partners, athletes typically don’t own the relationship with their fan base.
In partnership with Shopify, 77X offers a central place for Dončić’s fandom.
“In this new world of… people loving athletes more than they love the teams and the franchises, which was the traditional model, Luka has really found a way for him to get closer to the fans and for them to participate more fully in his life,” says Jessica Williams, head of global brand marketing and partnerships at Shopify.
This phenomenon reflects how Dončić’s youngest fans, aged between 13 and 25, want to engage.
“Fans today don’t just want to be passive,” says Seager. “They want to be active, they want to consume, and they want to live inside worlds.”
In order for fandoms to exist within a world, a world must first be created. Designing 77X’s visual identity involved collaboration among Dončić, Seager, 77X President and Chief Creative Officer Chris Eyerman, and their team.
“With Luka’s brand, we wanted to create a universe that reflected his actual personality and interests,” says Eyerman. “We wanted him to own everything we built, and we wanted fans to have a real aesthetic identity they could be part of.”
Creating Dončić’s aesthetic identity involved understanding who he is beyond basketball. An avid gamer and particular fan of Overwatch, Dončić’s gaming passion served as the foundation for designing 77X’s brand identity.
The result is an aesthetic that mixes retro gaming with a playful, specific tone. Eyerman describes the identity as a “Slovenian late night animated broadcast, all built around Luka, gaming, and basketball.”
A visit to 77x.world invites fans to sign up for a digital membership called Fan Pass. This serves as their entry point into exclusive Dončić content, giveaways, signed memorabilia, and the 77X shop with branded merchandise ranging from t-shirts and hoodies to keychains available for purchase.
“Gamified for us is a brand philosophy, just as much as it is any visual thing,” says Eyerman. “The way we think about toys, trading cards, blind box collectibles, and live experiences is all designed with the same logic. We want 77X to feel like the next great collectibles company as much as it feels like an athlete brand.”
In traditional athlete models, product drops were at the heart of the relationship with fans. However, Dončić desires to build a reciprocal and collaborative relationship. Research indicates that more than 70% of professional athletes engage with their fans in online communities. Socially savvy brands understand that co-created content with fans performs better. For 77X, merchandise and product drops are just the starting point.
Through Fan Pass, fans have the opportunity to earn rewards Dončić’s world—whether through attending a game, leaving a comment, voting in a poll, or buying merchandise. Each time a fan checks in with Fan Pass, they earn reward points that unlock different opportunities, such as collaborating on product drops and contributing to designs with the 77X team. Every action fans take on the platform informs what 77X produces next.
“Because the world has such a specific tone, creators and fans can easily make things inside it,” says Eyerman. “We’ve had animators, indie game designers, illustrators, content creators, and fans all contributing to the world, which is exactly what we designed for.”
The Heartbreak Factory activation laid the foundation for how the team will conceptualize future 77X events. It established
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