Triple Security Confirmed at Luka Doncic’s EuroBasket Game Amid Major Concern

Last Thursday, Slovenia wrapped up its run of preparation games with a blowout defeat against Serbia. Luka Doncic and Co. suffered a huge 106-72 defeat in which even the point guard struggled to make an impact against a relentless Serbian defense. While this isn’t a great sign for Slovenia, this issue has concern has taken a backseat after the latest update ahead of their highly anticipated EuroBasket 2025 campaign, set to tip off in Katowice, Poland.

While there will be a lot of eyes on Luka Doncic and Co.’s first game, it’s Slovenia’s final group stage game against Israel, which has become the talk of the town. But it isn’t related to anything that will be happening on the basketball court; instead, it’s related to the security of the Israeli national team. The preparations for the tournament and all the basketball-related affairs have been overshadowed by security concerns for Israel’s players and staff.

Keeping this in mind, according to a report in Israel Hayom, Israel’s General Security Service and Interpol are currently working together with Poland’s local law enforcement to guarantee the safety of the players and staff of the national team. This is huge news to say the least. However, it’s not a surprise, given that even before EuroBasket tips off, the Israeli national team has been facing several issues and has even struggled to arrange for friendly matchups in the run-up to the group stage.

Now, with Israel Hayom’s report, it seems like there will be triple security at each of Israel’s group five group clashes, including the final one against Luka Doncic and Co. on September 4th. Not just that, the Israeli outlet has also reported that, allegedly, the players have been instructed to keep Israeli symbols hidden whenever possible and maintain a low profile in public. While the players hope to focus on basketball, this triple security at games is just as necessary to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Nonetheless, as Israel navigates through its security issues and concerns, Doncic has delivered a strong locker room speech after Slovenia’s heavy loss against Serbia to get his team motivated for the group stage clashes.

Luka Doncic delivers a strong message to teammates after heavy loss against Serbia

As we mentioned, Luka Doncic and his native Slovenia wrapped up their preparation games with a disappointing defeat against Serbia. As expected, this did not sit right with the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, who has emerged as a real on and off-court leader for this national team throughout the summer. So, as soon as the game ended, the 26-year-old point guard decided to deliver a strong message to his teammates as they head into the EuroBasket 2025.

Slovenia’s head coach, Aleksander Sekulic, confessed that the five-time All-NBA guard was very frustrated with the blowout loss and stressed that Doncic’s supporting cast needs to step up if the team wants to make a podium finish at the upcoming tournament. However, this wasn’t it. Luka Doncic’s teammates later revealed that his frustration wasn’t limited to the court; he also had a harsh message for his teammates in the locker room. “I don’t like to talk about what’s going on in the team. Yes, we had a conversation,” Edo Muric stated.

“We cleared up a lot of things and said what needed to be said. This defeat actually brought us even closer,” he further said. Which isn’t a huge surprise, given the expectations from this Slovenian team are pretty high, and they haven’t been able to deliver on that in the friendly matchups. In fact, Slovenia only managed to win one game out of their six preparation games. While Luka Doncic’s teammate did not confirm any details, he did attest to the fact that they did have a conversation.

This indicates that the Lakers guard has become more vocal and has taken the leadership role into his hands. Even though we do not know what Doncic said, assuming from Muric’s statement, it’s safe to say that whatever he said has brought the team closer, which is great news for the supporters. Now, it will be worth watching whether Doncic’s speech will help Slovenia in the group stage or not, as we await tip-off at the EuroBasket 2025.