Luka Doncic is a player every NBA fan knows. With his ball handling and passing skills, Doncic has cemented himself as one of the best players in the league in his young career. The 24-year-old phenom has career averages of 27.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8 assists, absurd numbers all across the board, making him truly one of the greatest statistical marvels of our time. Doncic has been a member of the all-NBA first team 4 times and an NBA All-Star for 4 times as well.
Apart from representing the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic takes great pride in representing his country, Slovenia. Luka Doncic recently played for Slovenia in the upcoming FIBA World Cup. Let’s take a recap of his career in Slovenia so far.
Luka Doncic’s National Team Career
Luka Doncic has been representing Slovenia in international tournaments ever since he was a teenager. He was selected to play for Slovenia in the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. However, he was forced to withdraw with a foot injury. In 2016, Doncic announced that he would be representing the senior team in international tournaments henceforth. In 2017, Doncic played in his first EuroBasket, and Slovenia shocked the entire world, winning the gold medal and beating European titans France and Spain. Doncic was named to the all-tournament team, an incredible feat for the 18-year-old.
Doncic also led Slovenia to the Olympics in 2020 and almost single-handedly led Slovenia to a medal. He scored 48 points in his debut Olympics game over Argentina, tying for the second-most points ever scored in an Olympics basketball game. Slovenia would, however, lose in the bronze medal game to Australia. Doncic led the charge yet again for Slovenia in EuroBasket 2022, having incredible games, most notably his 47-point outing against France, trouncing the mighty French in the Round of 16. However, this time around, previous glory wouldn’t come for Slovenia as they would get upset by Poland in the quarter-finals.
When did Luka Doncic start playing in the NBA?
Luka Doncic was drafted in the NBA in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. However, they immediately traded him to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights to Trae Young. Since then Doncic has been playing with the Mavericks and has become one of their best players not only currently but in the history of the franchise also.
Even in such a short time period, the Solvenian has a number of NBA and Mavericks records under his belt. He already finds himself going toe to toe with some of the biggest names in the history of the league as far as stats are concerned.
