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Lakers Supported Luka Doncic Playing For Slovenia In FIBA EuroBasket 2025
Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Lakers superstar guard Luka Doncic is set to take part in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tournament, representing his home country of Slovenia. These international tournaments have are extremely important to many players who take a lot of pride in leading their respective countries to victory.

As such, the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alperen Sengun, Franz Wagner and Kristaps Porzingis will all be participating. But despite the pride that many have for representing their countries, NBA teams have sometimes been hesitant about their players participating primarily because of the injury risk.

But that wasn’t the case with the Lakers and Doncic as the superstar said that the franchise fully supported him playing for Slovenia in the EuroBasket tournament, via Ekipa:

“They support me, they really support me and encourage me to the maximum.”

This is another great sign at how aligned the Lakers are with their superstar. Many franchises might be concerned with their stars playing in a very competitive tournament not long before training camp and the NBA season is set to begin, but the Lakers understand how important this is to Luka and want to support him in every way possible.

It is fair for a team to be wary of their players, especially those of the status of Doncic taking part in something like EuroBasket. And that goes even more so right now as Luka just signed his massive contract extension with the Lakers. But the international pride is far different over there and the commitment to the national team is of the utmost importance.

The Lakers have always been a franchise that is about family and treating their players like family. This is something that is extremely important to Doncic and if that is the case, the Lakers are going to be supportive as he looks to lead his country to a strong showing.

Luka Doncic outlines goals for Slovenia at FIBA EuroBasket 2025

Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is the ultimate competitor. That is obvious any time he’s on an NBA court and will undoubtedly be the same when he suits up for Slovenia at EuroBasket. And Doncic has high goals for his country at the tournament as the guard hopes to lead Slovenia to a medal at the tournament.

That will be no easy feat with squads like Serbia, France and Greece being the favorites to medal, but everyone should know better than to doubt Luka in any competitive basketball environment.

This article first appeared on Los Angeles Lakers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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