Dallas Mavs Star Luka Doncic One Win From Leading Slovenia To Olympics

The Dallas Mavericks guard just needs to lead Slovenia past Lithuania on Sunday to put his country in the Olympics for the first time

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić is one win away from representing Slovenia in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, after leading his country’s team to a 98-70 win over Venezuela on Saturday in FIBA Olympic qualifying.

Dončić scored 23 points with nine rebounds and 13 assists for Slovenia in the blowout victory. 

Luka. Magic. Our @TCL_Europe Player of the Game!@luka7doncic was just one rebound shy of a triple-double! 😲

📊 v. 🇻🇪: 23 PTS 9 REB 13 AST | 33 EFF pic.twitter.com/OS0BXTK165

— FIBA (@FIBA) July 3, 2021

Mike Tobey added 27 points and 12 rebounds for Slovenia. Tobey, who played for Virginia, is Slovenian-American and has played in Europe since 2018.

Slovenia has never appeared in the Summer Olympics. The country’s only medal came in EuroBasket in 2017, when the country won a gold medal. Dončić played in that tournament, and was among the top rebounders in the competition, averaging 8.1 rebounds per game. Dončić made the All-Tournament team, while his teammate, Goran Dragić, as the Most Valuable Player.

Slovenia will face Lithuania in the final in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Sunday. The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to the Summer Olympics.

Lithuania is an Olympics veteran, having been to the Summer Games seven times, winning three bronze medals. But, the country’s last bronze medal came in 2000. Plus, its last gold medal in any major competition came in 2003 at EuroBasket.

Dončić’s foray into international play comes as the Mavericks are completely retooling their organization. Long-time president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle left the organization. In their place is new head coach Jason Kidd and new general manager and head of basketball operations Nico Harrison. Former Mavs player Michael Finley remained with the organization in the front office, all of them looking to help build around Luka in a Mavs uniform ... what at the same time likely enjoying Doncic's overseas show.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard