LeBronDota

Serbia

Name:

Nikola Popović

Nationality:

Serbia

Birthdate:

Apr 23, 1990

Active role:

Player

Active as a Player:

Since 2013

Alternative IDs:

LeBronMP3

Early career (2015–2017)

Nikola "LeBronDota" Popović played DotA before Dota 2, and Dota 2 coverage lists him as a Serbian player born on 23 April 1990.^[1] Dota 2 statistics site dota2.ru says he was little known until 2016, when his parents' disapproval of the hobby and his university studies had limited his competitive play.^[2] The same profile says he found few players of his level in Serbia, moved to FACEIT leagues, and became a substitute for Natus Vincere in 2015 on Funn1k's recommendation (single source).^[3] He described his experience at that point as mostly tier-two and tier-three teams, plus one stand-in appearance for the organization against OG about two years before 2018.^[4]

Natus Vincere (2018)

Natus Vincere recalled him in January 2018 as a stand-in for the qualifiers of the GESC: Indonesia Minor, where the team played without its captain Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev and qualified.^[5] On 5 February 2018 the organization confirmed him as its position five support, joining Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, Vladislav "Crystallize" Krystanek, Viktor "GeneRaL" Nigrini and Ilya "Lil" Ilyuk.^[6] In its profile of the new signing, the club cited Dotabuff figures of 1,178 professional matches, a 52.38 percent win rate and a 2.35 KDA, with Earth Spirit his most-played hero.^[7] Chief executive Yevhen Zolotarov praised his persistence at the time, and LeBronDota said he had followed the club since The International 2011.^[8]

B8 (2020)

In early 2020 he rejoined Dendi on B8, the organization Dendi founded, as the team's position five support.^[9] The roster also included Andrey "Ghostik" Kadyk, Rinat "KingR" Abdullin and Alexandr "pio65" Zalivako, and entered the CIS open qualifier for ESL One Los Angeles.^[10]