The new, slimmer Luka Doncic made his official debut last Thursday. It happened with the Slovenian national team, in their first game of EuroBasket 2025 group stage, against hosts Poland. this is Slovenia’s weakest roster since Doncic joined the team. In 2017, when Luka was just 17, he led Slovenia together with Goran Dragić and naturalized forward Anthony Randolph to the only European championship in the country’s history. This time, Slovenia has no naturalized player, and their second-best player isn’t even in the squad. Both Josh Nebo and Vlatko Cankar were not released by their club, Milano.
Minus those pieces, Slovenia's talent is paper thin. Four teams out of a group of six advance to the Round of 16 in Latvia, and Luka will need to perform miracles to go much further. The roster around him is made up of second and third tier European players. Only one teammate, 32-year-old Klemen Prepelič, will play next season in Europe’s premier competition, the EuroLeague. The clearest sign of this decline is 7’1” center Alen Omić, 33 years old, far past his prime, included only because Nebo's absence. He is so lacking in confidence that even a brilliant entry pass from Luka doesn’t get him to attempt a simple layup. He rushes to kick the ball back out. There’s a reason no European club has signed him yet.
To evaluate whether Luka Dončić has truly been reborn, I categorized every one of his plays from this game into five distinct - if admittedly arbitrary- categories, detailed in the video clips below: scoring, passing, positive defensive plays, negative defensive plays, and “Luka Being Luka.”
The final category, still to be explained, is already a giveaway for those unwilling to wait it out: skinny Luka is not a different basketball player - and certainly not a different person. If there are changes, they are marginal and will have to be evaluated later in the tournament and throughout the season. At his core, Doncic’s supreme talent is still intact, but so are his weaknesses, both technical and mental. Another spoiler: Slovenia lost to Poland, 105–95. That’s no indictment of Luka. Even LeBron James or Michael Jordan at their prime would struggle to win with this kind of supporting cast.
Scoring and Passing
Before diving into the plays, Doncic’s stat line was phenomenal: 34 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals (!) and 2 blocks (!!!). The defensive picture is more complicated than the numbers suggest, but we’ll get to that. Offensively, Luka remains a virtuoso, despite a mediocre shooting night (3 of 9 from three). His ability to get to the rim seems slightly sharper thanks to the weight loss, visible in split actions out of the pick and roll. As Slovenia’s sole creator, his threes came off the dribble or from a standstill; he doesn’t have the privilege of catch and shoot opportunities off kickouts.
As a passer, Luka - as always - handled double teams with relative ease. He dished out of the post to the cutting Edo Muric (twice) and out of the wing iso for a Prepelič three. And of course, he remains one of the best foul drawers in the game (17 of 18 from the free throw line). Offensively, this was the same old Luka.
Defense: Good and Bad
Luka Dončić’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers is a monkey that won’t be leaving Nico Harrison’s back anytime soon. But Harrison’s claim that he preferred Anthony Davis to Dončić because “defense wins championships” is also a monkey on Luka’s back. Against Poland, he started off promisingly with blocks on stars Mateusz Ponitka and Jordan Loyd (yes, the same Loyd you might remember praying on Toronto’s bench next to Kawhi Leonard during that shot against Philadelphia in 2019).
Later in the game, Luka also had some solid defensive plays, mainly steals and denial possessions. Are those connected to his new slimmer frame? Too early to tell.
But one thing is already certain: Slovenia’s coach Aleksander Sekulić doesn’t believe Luka has been reborn as a lean defensive stopper. Throughout the game, Doncic was assigned to Poland’s least dangerous offensive player. He mostly guarded Michał Sokolowski, Tomasz Gielo, and Przemysław Żolnierewicz (Pardon my polish). Poland’s coach Igor Miličić also didn’t treat Luka as an improved defender. Poland’s offense isn’t strictly pick-and-roll based, but when they did run it, they often looked to target Luka in the switch.
And just like in the NBA, Dončić had plenty of moments of losing his man, committing unnecessary fouls, failing to box out, or simply being uninvolved in defensive possessions -even when he could have rotated or contested a rebound. Many times, he was too busy arguing with referees or waving his arms in frustration while the play was still ongoing.
The Ugly (kind of): Luka Being Luka
Which brings us to the real issue - Luka Doncic’s oncourt personality. The whispers around Dallas moving on from him revolved around poor work habits, diet, and drinking. His on-court behavior flew under the radar. Time to address the elephant in the room.
Doncic is only 26. Jordan and LeBron didn’t have titles at that age either. Luka could still rewrite his story as a winner. But changing habits? That’s the real challenge.
You see, Alongside the points and assists, Luka’s game also featured puzzling decisions: a wild three pointer over two defenders trying (and failing) to draw a foul, followed by a rant at the ref that earned him a technical; another blocked attempt to bait contact on a three; a strange 20 footer that hit nothing; and even a conversation with his coach during live play that caused him to miss a pass directed his way. Doncic’s highlights are truly breathtaking; but it’s hard to think of another superstar in basketball history whose lowlights are this ugly.
Above all, it’s the constant complaints to referees that wear on the viewer. Every superstar applies some pressure on the officials, but with Luka it’s an outright obsession. Time and again he gestured the Replay Signal with his hands, waved, argued, and talked nonstop. Even his coach Aleksander Sekulić, by no means one of Europe’s top coaches, lost patience and seemingly yelled at him to shut up at one point, likely fearing a technical foul.
We can assume Lakers management, who traveled to the tournament specifically to watch Doncic, won’t speak ill of him. He’s the franchise player, the man they’re building their future around, the bridge to the post-LeBron era. But sooner or later, someone in the Lakers organization will have to confront their No. 1 star, even in his slimmed-down form. The talk about his poor conditioning pushed Doncic into a strict diet; What will it take for him to stop obsessing over refs and just control what’s in his hands?