PIRAEUS, Greece — Luka Doncic has played a lot of basketball since last summer, beginning with the FIBA World Cup, followed by the Dallas Mavericks' season that ended in an NBA Finals run. Despite 15 days since Game 5 against the Boston Celtics and having to play Croatia at Peace and Friendship Stadium, Doncic committed to playing for the Slovenian national team at the Olympic qualifier.
Doncic finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, and five assists against Greece, but the talented squad led by tournament MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo proved too much to handle in the 93-65 loss . The undersized Slovenian squad struggled to protect the paint in this tournament while deploying 6-foot-7 Josh Nebo at center. Vlatko Cancar and Edo Muric both struggled coming off ACL tears as well.
"Congratulations to Greece. They were better, more rested, more aggressive, and above all, they have a great team with Giannis and many other stars and an outstanding coach," Doncic said. "A defeat is a failure because we came here for the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, we ran into a better opponent."
After playing over 100 games since August, Doncic understandably feels "very tired, but now, he'll get to rest. Slovenia was attempting to qualify for consecutive Olympic appearances for the first time ever but fell short in those efforts. He still averaged 27.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists in these three games.
"A long and tiring season is behind me. I admit that I am very tired, and at the same time, I am aware that I could give more of myself in a different state," Doncic said. "Now I have a well-deserved rest waiting for me, and next year, I will have a new national team campaign at the European Championship.''
Slovenia head coach Aleksander Sekulic praised Doncic for competing with Slovenia after such a long NBA season. The option of simply taking a vacation to rest and worrying about competing with the national team later was reasonable for Doncic, but he chose otherwise.
"First of all, when we talk about the Slovenian national team, we always have to talk about Luka Doncic because that's the way it is, and that's beyond that he's a superstar," Sekulic explained. "He's a great guy coming, playing for the national team after having a long season—sacrificing his free time playing for Slovenia. We are not in a great situation right now regarding the team [or] the roster. We have problems of our own, even though he came to help the team, to give everything he has."
Doncic has a complete NBA season to worry about first, but he is already looking forward to competing with Slovenia at EuroBasket next summer. He won’t have a training camp with the Mavericks until late September, giving him more than two months to recover without competing in the Olympics.
