Vlatko Cancar 1-on-1: Being Dallas Mavs Star Luka Doncic's Slovenia Teammate, ACL Recovery, 2024 Olympics, More

Nuggets forward Vlatko Cancar spoke to DallasBasketball.com about being Luka Doncic's Slovenia teammate, recovering from an ACL tear, his 2024 Olympic plans, and more.

DENVER — While Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has a lot of NBA action to play before competing with the Slovenia men's basketball team again, the ongoing injury recovery of Denver Nuggets forward Vlatko Cancar will be necessary to the team's outlook at the Paris Olympics this summer. 

Cancar could not play in this year's FIBA World Cup after suffering a torn ACL when landing after a dunk during a friendly against Greece. Despite not having Edo Muric or Cancar, the team's only active NBA player outside of Doncic, Slovenia still managed a seventh-place finish with a signature win against Australia. The victory against Australia not only served as revenge for losing the Bronze medal game at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but clinched Slovenia's advancement to Manila to continue competing.  

"A lot of people kinda was out with all the injuries with me and Edo Muric. I feel like we played up to our expectations," Cancar told DallasBasketball.com. "We always look to go for a medal. That's why you play sports, but I was, uh, you know, 

"I was really surprised, especially getting that win against Australia. We got them back because the Olympics won [in 2021]. Unfortunately, in that game against Canada, Luka got tossed out, which really can't help them because losing a player like him takes a toll on the team."

Doncic took over the role of captain for the Slovenian national team for the first time during the 2023 FIBA World Cup. As someone who has spent plenty of time as teammates with Doncic, Cancar highlighted the growth he's seen in how Doncic has become more responsible in taking care of his body. 

"He's starting to understand that if you want to win, you must be more responsible," Cancar said. "You have to take care of yourself more."

Among the measures Doncic has taken to go "all in" on maximizing his preparation includes having a team of familiar experts with him in Dallas. During the NBA season, he has Slovenia men's national team strength and conditioning coach Anze Macek and physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo, who worked with Doncic during his time with Real Madrid, assisting him to provide consistency in his process. Another factor for Doncic has been his nutritionist, Lucia Almendros.

"As you can see, [Anze Macek], our national team strength and conditioning coach, has him over there. He has [Javier Barrio Calvo] from Real Madrid," Cancar said. "You can see that he wants to win. He doesn't want to do all this work to get knocked out in the first or second round. He's going all in."

"I feel like it's just the consistency, taking care of his body on and off the court, and at the end of the day, it's the consistency," Cancar explained. "Everybody wants in the NBA or just in general, so if you want to win, you must outperform everybody and everything."

Even after playing through an illness that landed him on the injury report after missing the morning shootaround and despite playing in the altitude of the Mile High City, Doncic remains confident in the process behind his physical preparation that continues to help with conditioning and avoid injury. 

"Oh, yeah, it helps a lot," Doncic said. "I think I'm in a really good spot, so I just have to continue to work hard."

In terms of the current roster around Doncic, Cancar likes the potential of what the Mavs can achieve with Kyrie Irving as a superstar backcourt partner. However, the Nuggets forward conveyed the importance of Dallas having enough impact from its complementary talents. 

"I think it's good," Cancar said. "Two superstars and then great role players around him. It's perfect when they can take turns, who will handle the ball or the usage. And I feel like they complement each other very well, especially when Luka, maybe, once you take a possession off, you can give it to Kyrie, and then he can go to work and vice versa. At the end of the day, it's also the role players who have to win the games."

FIBA

One element of the game that Doncic draws a lot of admiration from others for is the patience and precision he displays operating out of pick-and-roll. Cancar sees the technique that Doncic utilizes as something that all point guards should learn from by using as the standard for manipulating the defense.

"I feel like he controls the pace of the game by never being in a rush, and he will bait you until the last second," Cancar said of Doncic. "He's really good at that, and for everybody else, I feel like that's a teaching point to all the point guards just to take your time and make the defense pick their poison."

Doncic remains one of the world's most dangerous isolation-scoring threats, with his dynamic shot-creation ability from all ranges, step-back from beyond the arc, and short-range game. He's also an incredibly efficient finisher due to his pace and footwork despite not having an incredible burst, along with being a tough post-up threat due to his size to punish mismatches and strength to face any matchup.

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"There are some players who you can throw whatever you want at him, but he's still going to do his job," Cancar said. "What teams, I guess, are trying to do is maybe just letting him go one-on-one and everybody else, don't let them do anything because he will get his thirty, forty points. It's about the other guys. If you can get them involved, then it's basically a checkmate."

With Slovenia during the World Cup, Doncic spent more time playing off-the-ball, particularly as the focus of actions out of the corner, such as Zoom action handoffs or double-wide pin downs, in addition to the regular dose of high pick-and-roll, isolation, and post-ups he tends to get. Cancar sees value in continuing to move Doncic around the half-court in different ways, making the defense have to think about how they'll approach guarding him in different actions. 

"Nobody really expects him to come off and downs and come off Zoom actions, so when they have to learn how to defend him in different actions or new actions for him, I think it's difficult for everybody," Cancar said.

As Cancar continues to recover from the torn ACL he suffered during a friendly against Greece while preparing for the FIBA World Cup, he is encouraged by his progress. He recently began running and feels it's "going in the right direction."

"Just started running. So far, so good," Cancar said. "No inflammation, no swelling — I feel good, really good. It's going in the right direction."

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When Slovenia competes at the pre-Olympic qualifiers in Greece in early July, Cancar hopes to have the "green light" to do so. If it doesn't work out for him to participate in the qualifiers, but Slovenia does earn a spot in the Olympics, his "goal" is to play.  

"My goal is to play in the Olympics," Cancar said. "For the qualifiers, hopefully, I can get a green light by then, but yeah, that's something I'm going to do this summer."

When asked about looking forward to playing with Cancar again this summer, Doncic emphasized that Slovenia needs him: "I love playing with that guy. We need him. So hopefully, he's healthy for that because we'll need him."

The next time the Mavs will face the Nuggets will be on Mar. 17 at American Airlines Center.