By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dallas Mavericks All-Star Luka Doncic is among the players of the 24-man preliminary roster of the Slovenian national team for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament that will be held in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Whether Doncic will actually join Slovenia or not will likely depend on how far the Mavericks go in the NBA playoffs since the Kaunas tournament begins on June 30. The Slovenian superstar’s case is similar to other international NBAers (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic among them) who will probably miss their national teams’ call due to their club obligations.
Lithuania, Poland, South Korea and Angola will also compete in the Kaunas tournament along with Slovenia. Only one team will advance to the Olympics.
Per FIBA:
International hoops sensation Luka Doncic has been named in Slovenia’s 24-man squad for next month’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Kaunas.
The Dallas Mavericks superstar, named in the All-Star Five after helping Slovenia win FIBA EuroBasket 2017, is one of several players in the team of five years ago that has been included.
Jaka Blazic, Ziga Dimec, Klemen Prepelic, Aleksej Nikolic, Vlatko Cancar, Matic Rebec, Gasper Vidmar and Edo Muric all helped Slovenia capture the FIBA EuroBasket and have been named in the squad.
Doncic, 22, has more than lived up to expectations in the NBA since being selected with the third overall pick in the 2018 draft.
Twice he has been a Western Conference All-Star. His play has captured the imagination of fans all over the world.
The Mavs are first in the Southwest Division standings with a 42-30 record and Doncic is averaging an eye-popping 27.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.6 assists.
| Slovenia 24-man squad for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament | ||||
| Jaka Blazic | Vlatko Cancar | Ziga Dimec | Luka Doncic | Zoran Dragic |
| Gregor Glas | Alen Hodzic | Gregor Hrovat | Jan Kosi | Martin Krampelj |
| Luka Lapornik | Miha Lapornik | Jurij Macura | Blaz Mahkovic | Blaz Mesicek |
| Edo Muric | Aleksej Nikolic | Alen Omic | Klemen Prepelic | Matic Rebec |
| Luka Rupnik | Zan Mark Sisko | Miha Skedelj | Gasper Vidmar | |
At the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which tips off on June 29, Slovenia will play in Group B and take on Angola on June 30 and then Poland on July 1. In Group A will be Lithuania, Korea and Venezuela. The countries that finish first and second in each group will advance to the Semi-Finals. Only the winner of the Final on July 4 will advance to the Tokyo Games.
The other OQTs are being played in Canada, Croatia and Serbia.
Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, USA, Iran, Nigeria and Japan are already in the Olympic field.