The Minnesota Timberwolves sent the Los Angeles Lakers packing in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, defeating the team led by Luka Dončić and LeBron James in five games.
Minnesota also indirectly sent Dončić packing for a different league by handing the generational talent an early postseason exit, as it was reported Friday that the 5-time All-NBA First Team selection would play in EuroBasket 2025 for his home country of Slovenia this summer.
"After the early exit, Doncic will finally get to exhale," ESPN's Dave McMenamin wrote Friday.
"One source close to him says this season was 'the most unexpected year of Luka's life."
"He will spend the summer playing for the Slovenian men's national basketball team at EuroBasket, sources said."
"He'll be accompanied by members of his 'body team' -- Slovenian national team strength coach Anže Maček and physiotherapist Javier Barrio Calvo -- throughout the offseason."
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The 26-year-old phenom will take his talents to EuroBasket during the NBA's offseason to have another chance at competing for a championship.
In 50 appearances while splitting time between the Dallas Mavericks and Lakers in the NBA's 2024-25 regular season, Dončić averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists while maintaining a 53.6% effective field goal percentage.
While Dončić's focus will return to the goal of raising the Larry O'Brien trophy as 2025-26 NBA champions with the Lakers next season, his present mission will now be to lead the Slovenian men's national team to a EuroBasket title win against the rest of Europe's world-class professional basketball talent.
By staying active and taking part in meaningful basketball this summer, the Lakers organization may believe that he'll improve his conditioning, which raised concerns during their short playoff run, prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign.
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