“If we are talking about Slovenia, we have to talk about Luka Doncic. I respect [Aleksej] Nikolic, [Edo] Muric, and all of the guys who play with him…. But Luka is like something different,” said Team Italy’s now former head coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco before the national team’s matchup against Team Slovenia. The Los Angeles Lakers star has had a rampant time at EuroBasket 2025 and leads the tournament in scoring and steals while being second in assists. Despite this, the path to the quarters was not straightforward, with Slovenia surviving a late scare against Italy to win 84-77.  For a renowned ESPN analyst back home in the US, the reason is clear.

The crew of ‘NBA Today’, consisting of Chiney Ogwumike, Brian Windhorst, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, recently came together to discuss the latest updates in the world of basketball. Brian Windhorst joined from a separate location. As the discussion shifted towards discussing Luka Doncic’s progression through EuroBasket, Windhorst said, “I can’t believe the Slovenians are this far. There is nobody else on the Slovenian team that is even in the Euro League. With all due respect to them, that would be like Luka walking in to play NBA games with all G-Leaguers, essentially, and winning. He has been absolutely dominant”.

Over the course of the last 6 games, Luka Doncic has averaged 34.0 points through 5.8/9.5 (61.4%) field goals, 3.3/10.3 (32.3%) 3-pointers, and 12.3/13.8 (89.2%) free throws. Except for the matchups against Belgium (26 points) and Iceland (26 points), the offensive star has scored 30+ points in the rest of Team Slovenia’s main games this tournament. In fact, Luka is just shy of scoring 30+ points in one more game to tie Greek legend Nikos Galis’s record for the most 30+ point games in a single EuroBasket tournament!

Throughout these games, Luka Doncic has remained his team’s highest scorer. In fact, in the previous game against Italy, he scored half (42 points) of his team’s overall score. The 2nd-highest Slovenian scorer that game, Klemen Prepelic, only made 11 points despite being on the court for 23:13 minutes. Luka and Prepelic were the only two players from Team Slovenia to score in the double digits, while Team Italy had 3 players do the same.

While Luka Doncic ranks 1st on the list of the highest average scorers this season, no other Team Slovenia player even makes the Top 50! Windhorst’s comments about not believing how the squad got this far make sense when you remember that Luka Doncic and co only won 1 of their 7 preparation games before the main matchups. This makes Luka’s run over the last few games all the more impressive.

“He crushed the Italians in the round of 16. He has taken Slovenia to some incredible heights so far in his international career. If he is able to, forget about winning this tournament. If he’s able to reach the final, it would be one of the great performances we’ve seen in modern international basketball,” Windhorst added. However, he also added that “I expect tomorrow the Germans to double team him very aggressively. Italy did in the second half. He’s been great. His new conditioning is showing off. He’s been amazing. But, it’s a tall order against the defending World Cup champion Germans”.

For Brian Windhorst, Luka Doncic is the star, while the rest of his teammates are equivalent to G-Leaguers. However, if there is one person who does not hold that same mindset, it is the Los Angeles Lakers star.

Luka Doncic praised Team Slovenia after win against Italy

After scoring 42 points and 10 rebounds to lead Team Slovenia to the win, the 26-year-old Slovenian was the center of attention. However, after the game, he didn’t just want to talk about his numbers. He wanted to speak about his team, especially the bond that helped the national team reach the Quarter-Finals. “Why are we special? Because everyone plays for each other,” said Luka. “We get along great, the chemistry is at its peak. Sometimes we ‘argue,’ but that’s part of sports – on the court, we just want to help each other. As I said before, all credit to the guys.”

The ‘argue’ point occurred back during the preparation games. After the loss against Team Serbia set the 1-6 record for Luka Doncic and co, the NBA star, according to reports, shared “strong words” with his teammates. Edo Muric discussed the same by revealing, “I don’t like to talk about what’s going on in the team. Yes, we had a conversation. We cleared up a lot of things, and said what needed to be said”. NBA reporter Jeff Pagaduan defended the Lakers star by saying that his frustration “isn’t coming from a place of malice. Doncic simply wants to win, and he is very emotional in the way he carries himself, as has been the case throughout his career.”

Luka Doncic’s leadership skills were clearly seen during a timeout period in the Slovenia-Italy game. Turning to his teammates, Luka yelled, “We’re up by seven, calm the f*** down, everyone. You’re all nervous, it’s seven points. Focus, we don’t need to f***ing fight each other. We’re against them, not against ourselves, come on!” Sure enough, Slovenia held off Italy.

Luka Doncic may not have the best squad, but he values this player. Whether this feeling allows him to lead them past the Quarter-Finals by defeating Germany is something that remains to be seen.