A raucous crowd filled the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, today when the Polish national team hosted Slovenia in a first-round FIBA EuroBasket 2025 game.
But Slovenia star Luka Doncic had at least a few familiar folks rooting him on. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka and others from Los Angeles made the 6,000-mile, 12-hour flight to support the cornerstone of the Lakers’ future.
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“We just wanted to make a statement to Luka that we support what he does for his country,” Pelinka told Dan Woike of the Athletic in Poland before the game. “That’s really important to the Lakers when we have a player that’s the face of our franchise, just to show that support for him. And it’s just great to see him with his teammates, interacting, having fun.”
Rob Pelinka, Luka Doncic, and Jeanie Buss at the Slovenian national basketball team training session ahead of the FIBA EuroBasket in Katowice, Poland, on Wednesday. (Marcin Golba / Associated Press)
Turned out the game might not have been too fun for Doncic and Slovenia, which lost to Poland 105-95. Doncic led all scorers with 34 points, including 14 in the first quarter. He finished with nine assists, five steals and four rebounds.
Doncic became the first player to combine 30-plus points, five or more assists and five or more steals in a single EuroBasket game. Also, his 17 free throws were the most by any EuroBasket player since 2005, when Juan Carlos Navarro made 18 against Croatia.
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Still, the play circulating on social media is Doncic getting assessed with a technical foul after tossing up a long, one-handed three-point attempt to try to draw a foul.
Doncic, acquired in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks for center Anthony Davis on Feb. 1, signed a three-year, $165-million contract extension with the Lakers on Aug. 2. The five-time All-NBA guard has averaged 28.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists a game during his seven-year career.
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Poland, which upset Slovenia in the EuroBasket 2022 quarterfinals, has three stars in Aleksander Balcerowski, Jordan Loyd and Mateusz Ponitka. Slovenia was missing several key players — Josh Nebo, Vlatko Čančar, Jaka Blažič and Zoran Dragić — putting pressure on Doncic to carry the team.
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The tournament brings together Europe’s top national teams. Besides Doncic, NBA stars participating include Kristaps Porziņģis, Nikola Jokic and Alperen Sengun. Doncic is determined to continue representing his country in international competition.
“It’s an easy choice,” he told Woike. “I always want to represent my country. Always did. No matter what.”
Doncic, 26, is in the best physical condition of his career. He spent the summer in Croatia working out twice a day and adhering to a gluten-free, low-sugar, high-protein diet.
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“He is in great shape, really committed to working hard this summer, and to be able to watch that in person was worth flying over the ocean to come be with him,” Pelinka said.
Pelinka and Buss were joined on the trip to Poland by Kurt Rambis, Linda Rambis and director of player performance and health Leroy Sims.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
