Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic had his EuroBasket run with Sloevnia cut short with a 99-91 loss to Germany in the quarterfinals of the international tournament. Doncic was stellar yet again, finishing with 39 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. But the Germans — one of the favorites going into the tournament — advanced to the semifinals.
Luka getting Slovenia to the quarterfinals at all was seen as a massive shock. They did not have any NBA talent besides Doncic, and even their top EuroLeague players were ruled ineligible by their club teams. It took a Herculean effort from the Lakers star to get them where he did, but they still had a chance to defeat Germany and advance even farther.
After the loss, the 26-year-old superstar voiced his complaints about officiating, both for an early technical foul call and for the fact that he had to play most of the fourth quarter carefully because of foul trouble, as translated by Luka Updates:
Luka was asked about the refs:
"That can only… I won't say anything. First I got a tehnical 2 minutes into a game for yelling 'alo', but ok. In quarter-final that shouldn't happen no matter what player you are. If you don't even get a warning first, then I don't know. But it's… pic.twitter.com/nlfE7CR3HJ
— Luka Updates (@LukaUpdates) September 10, 2025
Doncic is certainly known for his candor when it comes to officiating, and while it’s something he’s often criticized for, his frustration from this game makes some sense. Getting a technical foul in the opening minutes of a quarterfinal match for yelling something is a bit harsh, and did appear to be the refs sending an early message to both teams.
But Luka is never going to change his style of play to match what the officials are hoping for, and he is never going to shy away from critiques when he feels they’re warranted.
Luka Doncic proud of Slovenia
Luka Doncic showed the entire world that his body transformation wasn’t just for show as he led an underdog Slovenia team to the elimination rounds of FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
Doncic was at the center of Slovenia’s upset win against Italy, doing everything he could on both ends of the floor to ensure his team would win. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, they ran into Germany in the quarterfinals and were eliminated from EuroBasket after losing 99-91.
Doncic put up a valiant effort against the loaded German team featuring several NBA players, recording a near-triple-double of 39 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The counting stats are absurd and it goes to show how much heavy lifting Doncic needed to do to drag Slovenia that far into the tournament.
Following the loss to Germany, the Slovenian star expressed he was angry and believed he could have done more. However, Doncic later showed how proud he was of Slovenia via his personal Instagram account.
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