Slovenia Coach Shares Luka Doncic Injury Update: ‘He Takes A Lot of Hits’
MANILA, Philippines — As Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic continues to compete at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with the Slovenian national team, his health status has remained a focus.
Before the tournament began in Japan, Doncic had mentioned that he's continued to deal with an old injury that he had dealt after the NBA All-Star break to close the Mavs' season. He claimed that "everything is okay."
"It is an old injury, which caused me problems in March in the NBA," Doncic said in mid-August before the World Cup started. "Therefore, we performed an MRI. Everything is okay. Nothing worse."
Doncic had played his fifth game in 10 days when Slovenia lost 100-71 to Germany in Okinawa. After scoring 12 points in the first 23 points in the first quarter, there was a noticeable difference where he had been settling more from behind the 3-point line instead of aggressively attacking the paint.
"Yeah, it was just in the second quarter, he told me he's okay," Sekulic said of Doncic. "In the second half, he didn't have these problems. I don't know, I think he played normal."
As Slovenia plays out the remainder of the World Cup, the team understands there must be greater protection for Doncic to reduce the physical toll he takes in order to maximize his impact and avoid injury. The opposition's plan often involves being highly physical with Doncic to wear him down.
"Like I always say, he takes a lot of hits during a game," Sekulic said of Doncic. "Teams try to play physical with him and there's a lot of contact and he needs to deal with a lot of contact and it's not easy and it hurt him a little bit. Hopefully, we are going to find a way to protect him."
It was mentioned after the game by Germany head coach Gordon Herbert that Niels Giffey and Isaac Bonga effectively executed the team's plan to wear down Doncic throughout the game.
"I thought Niels [Giffey] and Isaac Bonga did a great job on Luka Doncic to really wear him down," Germany coach Gordon Herbert said.
Early on, Germany had stayed in single coverage against Doncic instead of hard doubling to get the ball out of his hands. Even if it meant sacrificing scoring chances against a mismatch, the goal was to make Doncic have to work for what he got. With a lot of physicality throughout, the goal was to get him to settle for step-back 3s as opposed to attacking the paint.
Doncic will next encounter a tough test with Canada having physical wing defenders like Dillon Brooks and Luguentz Dort. Slovenia did have a travel day on Monday and do not play until Wednesday, giving the Slovenian superstar time to physically recharge after group play.
Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for live coverage of Doncic and the World Cup from Manila.
