The year 2026 has been quite chaotic for Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic on the personal front. Doncic announced in March that he had separated from his fiancée, Anamaria Goltes, and that they were locked in a custody battle over their two daughters, Gabriela and Olivia.
Due to the dispute with Goltes and the fact that the NBA season was going on when all of this transpired, Doncic had barely spent time with his two daughters, who have been in Slovenia, for months. So, right after the Lakers’ 2025-26 campaign ended on May 11, the six-time All-Star announced he wouldn’t be playing for the Slovenian national team in the summer, as he wanted to spend time with his daughters.
Doncic has been true to his word, as evidenced by a couple of pictures he shared on Instagram on Monday. In the first one, the 27-year-old is seen carrying Olivia while holding Gabriela’s hand.
In the second, Doncic is seen walking with Gabriela on his shoulders.
You love to see that. When Doncic made that announcement, he revealed it had been extremely difficult for him to see his daughters over the last eight months. That would cause a great deal of pain to any father. It’s a real shame that things even got to that point.
Doncic and Goltes first met in Croatia when they were kids and started dating in 2016. All was seemingly going well, and on July 7, 2023, they got engaged. Later that year, in December 2023, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Gabriela, in the United States. Then two years later, in December 2025, Olivia was born in Slovenia.
Doncic had flown to Ljubljana to be with Goltes during childbirth. It was during that visit that he expressed a desire to take Gabriela back to the United States. Goltes had reportedly moved back to her native country with her eldest child in May 2025. Doncic understandably wanted to spend time with Gabriela, but his then-fiancée wasn’t a fan of the idea.
A disagreement ensued, and Goltes even called the police after Doncic had left the hospital. He was cleared of any wrongdoing, but it was perhaps evident then and there that this relationship had run its course.
All of this had been kept under wraps at first, but we then started to get rumblings about issues between Doncic and Goltes at the start of 2026. She then seemingly gave credence to the rumors in March by deleting all pictures of him from her Instagram account.
Then, a few days later, TMZ reported that Goltes had filed a petition for child support. The official announcement about the breakup came not long after from Doncic. He reportedly wanted Goltes’ petition for child support dismissed, as it had been filed in California. It was claimed that this was a “clear attempt to forum shop and avail herself of the generous amounts of child support for which California is well-known.”
Such cases almost always get messy, and this one doesn’t seem any different. Doncic has hired Laura Wasser, a high-profile divorce attorney, as he looks to win this legal battle.
As for the battles on the court, we haven’t seen Doncic, who made the All-NBA First Team in 2026, play in quite some time. He suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain on April 2 and missed the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.
Doncic had gone to Europe in April for specialized treatment as he looked to expedite his return, but things wouldn’t work out the way he’d have hoped. That trip wasn’t completely pointless, though.
Doncic reportedly got to spend some time with his daughters in Slovenia back then. It was likely the first time he had gotten to see them up close since that dispute with Goltes at the hospital. That trip couldn’t have lasted too long, and Doncic can now spend a bit more time with them.
