Slovenia has touched down in Poland. The country hopes to see a rejuvenated Luka Doncic lead the team to success during their EuroBasket 2025 campaign. However, before the tournament even begins, the team has had to battle some internal battles. Slovenia, as it stands, only has one other player aside from Doncic with EuroLeague experience.

Is that the country’s talent pool? Far from it. If the cards fell right, Slovenia could have assembled a superior team besides Doncic. But they hit complications along the way. Hoop Collective’s Tim MacMahon has studied the team in detail. Notably, they face three key absences due to unfortunate reasons.

Starting with the explosive one. Zoran Dragic, the former Heat star Goran Dragic’s brother was cut off from the team by head coach Aleksander Sekulic. Or that’s one side of the story. “Zoran Dragic, Goran’s little brother or maybe yeah, a little brother who had just a cup of coffee in the NBA, but a longtime fixture on the Slovenian national team was told, “Hey man, you you really ain’t cutting it.” Um, and his wife was blasting the coach on social media. Goron had some, you know, kind of uh cryptic things on social media,” MacMahon noted.

The 36-year-old was after what would be a farewell tournament. Having recorded the fifth most appearances for the national team, he was well respected by his comrades. However, his dispute with the head coach may have created some unrest.

However, the more profound loss stems from one source. Slovenia had NBA talent with Vlatko Cancar and a lob threat in Josh Nebo. However, their “European team would not let him play,” as MacMahon pointed out on Hoop Collective.

Their franchise, Olimpia Milano, cited player protection as the reason to block their players’ participation. That infuriated Luka Doncic, who said that the decision should be left up to the players. Because it came as a bombshell, it was also too late for Slovenia to find replacements. That’s left them in a dark place for the upcoming EuroBasket.

Slovenia’s only hope is Luka Doncic

The EuroBasket 2025 tournament is packed full of powerhouses. Slovenia, with an empowered Luka Doncic, was supposed to be one of them. But the harsh reality is, the limitations in building their roster have taken their status far away from that. This isn’t an assumption that Brian Windhorst just made up.

“I was talking to a scout who was at the Slovenia um Serbia game last week and his assessment was McMahon. Slovenia’s got nothing,” he revealed on the show.

The exclusions of Cancar and Nebo left the Slovenian team with a major void itself. But their inability to find a timely replacement, in particular, has left them with a shorthanded roster. Their group comprises of renowned teams such as France and Belgium. As things stand, their answer to every challenge is unfortunately Luka Doncic.

Their friendlies showed just how much Slovenia is lacking. In six games, Slovenia lost five, all by double digits. Furthermore, with Doncic also suffering a minor injury during one of these appearances, there’s also concern about the workload he can shoulder. All things considered, MacMahon made a bold admission.

“I’d have to check who are Euro League players, but it’s uh this is this is by far the least talented roster since Luka’s been playing for the Slovenian national team,” he said. It’s going to be a treacherous road for the team. But do you think Doncic can take them through to the knockout rounds still? Let us know in the comments below.