By REYNALD MAGALLON
Luka Doncic weaved his magic all throughout the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup to join an elite company of scorers in his first ever appearance in the global showpiece.
The 24-year-old Dallas Maverick star became the only 12th player in history to score at least 200 points in one edition of the World Cup after showing the way in Slovenia’s 89-85 win over Italy to finish at the seventh spot of the final standings.
In all, Doncic finished with a total of 216 points to line up his name along with FIBA legends Oscar Schmidt (Brazil), Drazen Petrovic (Yugoslavia), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Luis Scola (Argentina).
Also in the elite group that also included Kevin Durant (USA) Shin Dong-pa (Korea), Antonello Riva (Italy), Wayne Brabender (Spain), and Drazen Dalipagic (Yugoslavia) and Niko Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis (Greece).
“We know what kind of guy that we have. He’s our wonder boy. He deserves to be among those big names. He showed at every game, every practice what kind of kid he is. And he’s gonna accomplish even more in his career,” said teammate Zoran Dragic.
“There are some big names there. To have Luka at this age in this elite club, I think it’s a big honor for him. And a big honor for us, the Slovenian country, to have such a player. He showed his greatness – not only as a player but as a person also,” said Slovenia head coach Aleksander Sekulic.
Sekulic also lauded Doncic, not just for his greatest but also for his love for basketball and his country. He shared that Doncic insisted to play even though he had the chance to opt out in the classification games
“We played two games which didn’t mean a lot. But for him it meant a lot. So it shows greatness and love for his country and basketball. When you talk about superstars like Luka, they can say they don’t want to play these kinds of games or they are tired or have some small injuries. But he wanted to play, he wanted to play hard,” he added.
