OLYMPIC GAMES 2024
Will Luka Doncic play for Slovenia at the Paris Olympic Games?
The Mavericks player has already joined up with his national team and should play in the next friendly match, against Brazil.
Luka Doncic joined the Slovenian national team ahead of the match against Lithuania on Tuesday, which Slovenia won by a tight score of 70-68.
Although Doncic, who recently lost the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, decided to play with his national team at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, he did not participate in the match against the Lithuanians. Despite this absence, he is expected to play in the next friendly, against Brazil, which will be played on Friday in Ljubljana.
This will be the last preparation match before the pre-Olympic tournament, which Slovenia will play in Greece. In this tournament, they will face New Zealand and Mario Hezonja’s Croatia: if they overcome these two matches they will face either Greece, the Dominican Republic or Egypt.
What injuries does Luka Doncic have?
The final team list has not yet been made official, of which 12 players plus one nationalized player must remain. Currently, Slovenia have two nationalized players among its ranks, Mike Tobey and Josh Nebo, of which only one can be chosen to go to Greece.
Aleksander Sekulic, the Slovenian coach, confirmed that Luka Doncic wanted to play against Lithuania, but they decided to wait as a precaution, as Doncic finished the regular season in a less than optimum physical condition.
The player is suffering from three simultaneous injuries: one in the chest, one in the ankle and another in the knee. For this reason, Jason Kidd’s assistant has also been seen at the Slovenian team’s training sessions, sent by the American franchise to monitor Doncic’s injuries and progress.
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The 25-year-old player has accumulated a large load of games across the season, almost 100, and during the playoffs he paid the price: injuries impacted his ability to play at full speed, and was often listed as either ‘doubtful’ or ‘questionable’ before games.
Sekulic justified his absence against Lithuania by saying: “Doncic wanted to play today to introduce himself to the local public, but after playing almost 100 games in less than a year, we need him fresh for the decisive games in Piraeus.” With this message, Slovenia’s team have made it clear that they want Doncic back at 100% for the final squad list in the pre-Olympic tournament.