[2] Born in Titograd, young Luka grew up in the neighbourhood of Preko Morače where he attended the Maxim Gorky Elementary School.

[3][4] His construction engineer father Božidar had a stint as a director of the Republički zavod za urbanizam i projektovanje (RZUP) state-owned urban planning enterprise while his mother Nedeljka worked as a dentist-orthodontist.

[3][4] Inspired by a documentary called Maestro about the Yugoslav basketball star player Dragan Kićanović—produced by Yugoslav television and aired as part of its 1980 Moscow Olympics coverage—Pavićević took up streetball at age 12 via joining ballers gathering daily on the concrete court in the city's Njegošev Park.

[4] Marking himself out as a quick ball handler capable of competing against significantly older individuals, the teenager caught the eye of KK Budućnost's head coach Čedomir Đurašković who invited the youngster to join the club.

In August 2011, Pavićević was the head coach for the Serbia University team that won a gold medal at the Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.