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Major Luka Doncic Announcement Comes Down From Slovenian Team

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated May 27, 2025 5:51 PM ET

One of the question marks after Luka Doncic was traded from the Mavericks to the Lakers in February was whether his new team would be as willing (grudgingly, but willing nonetheless) to let Doncic participate in international tournaments for his home country of Slovenia as his old team was.

Doncic has said he plans to play in the tournament, which tips off for Slovenia on Aug. 28 against Poland.

Doncic has twice played in Eurobasket before, averaging 27.0 points with 7.7 rebounds and 6.6 assists in his last stint, in 2022. That year, Slovenia was upset by Poland in the quarterfinals.

Now, the Slovenians have announced that, yes, Doncic will be playing for the team this summer.

The president of the Basketball Federation of Slovenia, Matej Erjavec, told Slovenia TV that a brief conversation with the Lakers led to some certainty on the issue.

“Within two minutes in a meeting with Rob Pelinka, he stressed, ‘Well, you will get Luka and one coach, and that’s it’. And with that, we were done,” Erjavec said, via Eurohoops.net. “There was no debate at all.”

Slovenia did win the 2017 Eurobasket tournament, Doncic's first appearance with the team. That year, Slovenia upset heavily favored Serbia in the gold-medal game, led by 35 points from veteran guard Goran Dragic, one of Doncic's oldest friends and mentors.

Doncic, then just 18 years old, played all nine games and averaged 14.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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