{"id":70301,"date":"2025-06-16T06:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T06:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=70301"},"modified":"2025-06-16T06:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T06:59:13","slug":"lakers-news-luka-doncic-explains-why-he-always-plays-for-slovenian-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=70301","title":{"rendered":"Lakers News: Luka Doncic Explains Why He Always Plays For Slovenian National Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lakersnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Luka-Doncic-55.jpg\" alt=\"Luka Doncic, Lakers\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Luka Doncic didn\u2019t get drafted into the NBA as an unknown international prospect. Instead, he made a name for himself as a future superstar overseas playing in EuroLeague and for his national team of Slovenia.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic\u2019s resume before being drafted in 2018 was extensive and should have been an obvious indicator of the success he\u2019d find in the NBA. Now, the guard is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and the spotlight has never been better as he\u2019s being tabbed as the face and future of the storied franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Lakers greats like\u00a0Magic Johnson\u00a0and\u00a0Robert Horry\u00a0have already issued messages to Doncic as the expectations are high for the organization\u2019s newest star. Doncic shouldn\u2019t feel the need to respond as he\u2019s heard all the critics and understands what he needs to do to silence any doubts.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic has a busy offseason ahead of him as he also prepares to play for Slovenia. Despite the rigors of the NBA schedule, he said he continues to play for his national team because of the fans, via the\u00a0\u201cMind the Game\u201d podcast with LeBron James and Steve Nash:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201c[The passion from the fans] is why I play every year\u2026 That\u2019s why I always play, because of pride and I like to represent my country. But you see, my country lives for sports. For how small we are, I think we have great sports people. Bicyclists, skiers, it\u2019s a lot. But that\u2019s when the crowd is into it. I think we give back a lot to our country, so that\u2019s why the crowd and the people are really into sports.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Doncic has been a regular on the Slovenian national team for years and the commitment and loyalty to his country is admirable.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, players are typically skittish to put their bodies through more games out of season but this isn\u2019t an issue for someone like Doncic.<\/p>\n<div id=\"lakersnation-com_incontent_IAI_0_0\" class=\"fs-iai\" data-freestar-ad=\"__728x90 __336x280\">\n<div id=\"lakersnation-com_incontent_IAI_0_0_slot\">The upside to Doncic playing this summer is he should come into training camp already in shape and ready to go. The 2025-26 season is a pivotal one for the purple and gold and he will need to be at his best to carry the team to a deep playoff run.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"luka-doncic-explains-why-he-said-its-easier-to-score-in-nba-than-europe\">Luka Doncic explains why he said it\u2019s easier to score in NBA than Europe<\/h2>\n<p>Offensively, Luka Doncic can do anything on the floor as he\u2019s a brilliant scorer and a gifted playmaker.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic drew some eyebrows when he said it was easier to score in the NBA than in Europe and\u00a0he explained his rationale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luka Doncic didn\u2019t get drafted into the NBA as an unknown international prospect. Instead, he made a name for himself as a future superstar overseas playing in&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lakers News: Luka Doncic Explains Why He Always Plays For Slovenian National Team - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=70301\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lakers News: Luka Doncic Explains Why He Always Plays For Slovenian National Team - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Luka Doncic didn\u2019t get drafted into the NBA as an unknown international prospect. 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