Luka Doncic is a prodigious basketball talent. Despite it only being the third year of him being in the NBA, Doncic is already averaging superstar caliber numbers: during the 2020-21 NBA season, Doncic put up 27.7 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 8.6 APG. There is no question that this is only the beginning for him.
It seems as though Luka Doncic’s ability has extended to FIBA basketball as well. While we would expect NBA-caliber players to do well in an international setting, it is still quite an achievement that Luka Doncic has managed to lead the Slovenian basketball team to the Olympics, beating out a Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas led Lithuania squad to make the cut. Doncic put up a 31 point triple-double to ensure victory for his team.
Team USA coach Gregg Popovich has recently given Luka Doncic some praise for his achievement. Popovich stated that Doncic is one of the best in the world and that all it takes for a good team around him is four hard-working players.
He’s one of the best players in the world… He showed himself early on in Europe, and he was a fast study in the NBA for sure. He’s fun to watch, his skills, his competitiveness, his size. His innate basketball IQ is so impressive. You put four hard-working people around him and you’ve got a hell of a team. That’s what they have. They’re all so aggressive, they execute well. Coaching staff is very committed. Everybody wants to win, nobody wants to win any more than Luka.
Team USA are the favorites to get the gold medal at the Olympics this year, with top-tier NBA stars such as Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal representing their country in order to get the job done. It remains to be seen whether Team USA ends up facing the Luka Doncic led Slovenian basketball team, but if they do, they’ll have to find a way to limit Luka Doncic.
