Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic is currently competing in FIBA EuroBasket 2025 and to this point, he and Slovenia have exceeded all expectations.
Obviously Doncic is one of the best players in the world, but there is not a single other NBA player on Slovenia’s roster. With that being the case, no one expected them to make it to the quarterfinals, much less compete for a medal.
That is exactly the spot they are in though as Luka and Slovenia made it out of the group stage. They faced a tough test in Italy in the round of 16, but they passed that with flying colors in a wire-to-wire victory.
Doncic got off to a hot start against Italy and never looked back, scoring 42 points to maintain his lead as the top scorer in the tournament. While there are still games to be played, making it this far is a huge accomplishment for Slovenia and should be celebrated.
One person who has taken notice of what Doncic and Slovenia are doing is his Lakers co-star LeBron James. After their win over Italy, James took to social media to express his support for Doncic in EuroBasket:
LeBron James Instagram story 👀 pic.twitter.com/4yVGCie5Ez
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) September 7, 2025
James has had some success internationally himself, winning three Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2008, 2012 and 2024. He obviously had more talent around him than Doncic, which likely is why he is so impressed with what his Lakers teammate has accomplished this summer.
Doncic and Slovenia are not done though and their toughest test is ahead of them as they will take on Germany in the EuroBasket quarterfinals on Wednesday. Germany is arguably the best team left in the tournament, led by Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder. They already beat Slovenia once in an exhibition game, so Doncic will need to bring his A-game to give his team a chance in the rematch.
LeBron James inspired Luka Doncic body transformation?
Luka Doncic has played at an extremely high level in EuroBasket and one of the reasons for that is he completely transformed his body this offseason to get in the best shape of his life. A transformation like that was needed for Doncic, and it may have been inspired by playing with LeBron James.
Lakers assistant Greg St. Jean, who is also coaching Doncic with Slovenia this summer, believes James’ work ethic has rubbed off on Luka, which will be great for the latter’s career in the long run.
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