Luka Doncic Makes FIBA World Cup History, Joins Elite Scoring List

Slovenia didn’t finish as high as they wanted to in the FIBA World Cup, but they still have a lot to be proud of, and Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic joined a historic list in the process.

Dalton Trigg | Sep 9, 2023

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Although Slovenia finished seventh in the FIBA World Cup instead of being able to compete for a medal, they have a lot to be proud of, especially when considering they were without their second-best player in Vlatko Cancar due to a devastating knee injury before the tournament got underway.

Luka Doncic, as he’s done so often for the Dallas Mavericks over the last five years, put Slovenia on his back and put up historic numbers in the process. In eight World Cup games, Slovenia finished 5-3, and Doncic averaged 27 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.5 steals.

Doncic’s 216 total points put him in elite FIBA World Cup company, as only three other players have ever eclipsed that 200-point mark in eight games or less: Shin Dong-pa (7 games, 1970), Nikos Galis (6 games, 1986), Drazen Petrovic (8 games, 1986).

Luka Doncic, Slovenia, FIBA World Cup — FIBA

Although some Mavs fans wish Doncic would take off from playing international basketball in order to be fully rested when the new NBA season begins, playing for the Slovenian national team simply means too much to him for that to happen, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

“As I have said many times, whenever I can, I will play for the national team,” Doncic said after a tough loss to Lithuania on Thursday. “There is no question for me.”

If the top stars from the United States had that same kind of pride and desire to play for their national team as well, perhaps they’d be preparing to take home a gold medal right now instead of playing Canada for third place.

Published Sep 9, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.