Himurashi | Lakers

812 | 14 hours ago

Jaxson Hayes doing the Travolta meme when he gets to Team Slo bootcamp.

SlowBurnerAccnt

207 | 14 hours ago

Honestly if he still shows up he gettin the Kleber/Powell treatment. Luka will sign the game checks himself.

Himurashi | Lakers

97 | 14 hours ago

If Hayes becomes half as good as Prime Kleber after a Team Slo stint, I’m all for it.

lost_in_trepidation | Lakers

20 | 6 hours ago

People shit on Maxi, but prime Maxi was an ideal 3&D player. Shot near 40% from 3 while often anchoring the defense on the 2020-2022 mavs teams.

artvandelay916 | ATL

12 | 8 hours ago

Hayes is not as bad as this sub would have you think. He’s a perfectly fine backup as is, and his hustle and effort fit in well with the current squad

Prlmitive | Celtics

30 | 7 hours ago

you don’t get any grace on the court after beating your girl up off it

renal_speedwagon | Timberwolves

5 | 4 hours ago

your coach was literally arrested for domestic battery in 2009

MyLifeIsMyOwn | Lakers

3 | 3 hours ago

And the coach before him

Prlmitive | Celtics

-1 | an hour ago

yep, what’s that gotta do w me?

Himurashi | Lakers

5 | 7 hours ago

Oh, don’t get me wrong, personal stuff aside, I like Hayes pairing with Luka. He’s just the right kind of athletic big that Luka loves to lob for.

He can be better though.

I also like his dunk mixtape in general. He might have the nastiest mixtape for a second/third string player.

Victor_Wembanyama1 | Spurs

55 | 14 hours ago

How do you do fellow Slovenians

🤣 he has the perfect face for it

OctogenerianCoder

5 | 12 hours ago

Jason Hayes number one option averaging ²⁰⁄₁₀ incoming 🔥🔥🔥

cafesolitito | Timberwolves

1 | an hour ago

TIL Jaxson Hayes got Slovenian citizenship and plays for the team. Lol

Cassandrae_Gemini | Slovenia

593 | 14 hours ago

Good.

Maybe his legs will fully heal if he takes a few months completely off.

stantilidido

366 | 14 hours ago

You said good and then proceeded to care more about his legs than his daughters lol

bidet_bussy

257 | 13 hours ago

His daughters’ hamstrings are fine

spagheddieballs | Warriors

15 | 6 hours ago

inb4 chronic hamstring injuries are discovered to be hereditary

Shadoken-TYPE0 | Canada

124 | 14 hours ago

reddit don’t care about dads

Zoulogist | Lakers

34 | 12 hours ago

NBA fans are conditioned to only see players’ families brought up when they have a bad game

gmwdim | Pistons

3 | 8 hours ago

That’s all sports fans tbh

stantilidido

-9 | 14 hours ago

I would like to think that it’s just this guy.

supergrega | Heat

13 | 13 hours ago

We hear a lot about him as a dad in Slovenian media and it doesn’t look particularly good.

Not that I’m saying media is always right or even trutful or that we have any insight into their family, of course.

People also cared about Jordan, Barkley and Kobe etc. and they weren’t exactly stand up guys during their careers.

Edit: Or Edwards right now

Yellow_blackjack

1 | 7 hours ago

What are they saying?

supergrega | Heat

1 | 3 hours ago

I didn’t read it myself but I heard from friends (who I trust won’t let their fandom blind them or get swindled by clickbait media) that after the birth of his second daughter he wanted to bring the 1st daughter back to USA against their mothers will and it got so far that police had to get involved at the hospital. He also broke off the engagement and apparently didn’t bring the fiance or kid on his yacht vacations etc…

He’s been media darling over here, especially sports media, but for this specific situation it doesn’t make him look all that good. Don’t hear anything bad about the lady.

I mean again its the media so wtf do we really know right?

JuliusCeejer |

1 | 5 hours ago

What do they say?

loyola-atherton | Lakers

61 | 14 hours ago

He only got two legs.

He can have more daughters.

/s

SuperVaderMinion | MIN

8 | 11 hours ago

“At the beginning of time, the gods made all of the Luka Doncic legs there will ever be. There always be more daughters.”

Wolfpac187 | OKC

1 | 4 hours ago

Elite reference if it’s what I’m thinking of

theAmericanStranger

11 | 8 hours ago

Porque no los dos?

Devoting his summer to his daughters is great.

Having time to heal his body after several years w/o significant offseason rest time is also great.

FireFlyz351 | Slovenia

3 | 4 hours ago

I’m pretty sure this has to be the first summer Lukas actually taken off since coming to the NBA.

And if not it’s at least been quite some time since he has.

onegoodboah

3 | 3 hours ago

I mean he’s an nba player with a repeat injury. Why wouldn’t we be talking the basketball implications on a basketball forum?

Also a high chance that he would be playing if he wasn’t having these injury issues. Family probably made him not want to rush back but you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think “plus I want to be healthier for next season” was a consideration here

Boysoythesoyboy

-3 | 13 hours ago

At thier ages and his affluence he could spend time with them while playing.

axecalibur | CHI

1 | 7 hours ago

Fat Luka it is.

YoungDetective | Lakers

364 | 14 hours ago

no Luka playing basketball all summer this is my NBA championship

CarterAC3 | Spurs

100 | 14 hours ago

How does the Slovenian national team have something going on every goddamn summer?

Luka77GOATic | Serbia

182 | 14 hours ago

Qualifiers - FIBA World Cup - Olympics - EuroCup in a 4 year cycle.

Motor-Grade-837

71 | 11 hours ago

Poor Yao had to go through this as well (Asian Championships instead of EuroCup). 12 international tournaments in 11 years.

milkhotelbitches | Bucks

19 | 7 hours ago

Slovenian team is an actual team that takes all of their competitions seriously.

Team USA is a bunch of dudes who show up every 4 years for the Olympics and pretend everything else doesn’t exist.

m0_m0ney | Trail Blazers

3 | 2 hours ago

It’s more so that the US is much deeper and has a bunch of guys who can step in and play all the qualification games, not to mention the continental championship the US plays in is mostly meaningless. Eurobasket is a pretty big deal and i can’t even name whatever it is for North America and I’m American.

For example France is at the point where they’re getting the depth to be able to not play their stars and get through the qualifications and what not fine but I’m not sure that Slovenia is at that point

OctogenerianCoder

35 | 12 hours ago

The thing is, this summer they basically don’t. They have 2 qualifier games for the world championship, and the team is currently 3-1 without him in the qualifiers, that’s why he is taking a break - they can probably do it without him. This is basically the only year without tournaments cause otherwise you have EuroBasket, Olympics and World Championship in the other 3 years.

wooIIyMAMMOTH

1 | 6 hours ago

The record from the first stage of qualifiers carries on to the next stage. Every win matters.

OctogenerianCoder

2 | 6 hours ago

I mean yes, but also they are favourites in all the remaining games, even without him. Ideally he could play, but it’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t. Especially, if he plays in the qualifiers next year.

wooIIyMAMMOTH

1 | 6 hours ago

You are underestimating the importance of this summer. They have two games left in the first stage, including with Estonia who they lost to at home. If they lose one of the two first stage games remaining, they enter second stage at 4-2, meanwhile there will be multiple if not close to ten teams who will enter that stage at 5-1 or 6-0. And then this summer there are also two games from the second stage. If they lose one of those two games as well, they end the summer at 5-3 and there’s very little chance they make it to the final tournament.

OctogenerianCoder

1 | 4 hours ago

Sry, I didn’t realize this entire situation. Hopefully we then at least get Hayes, since otherwise it could be difficult.

[deleted]

-1 | 14 hours ago

[deleted]

OctogenerianCoder

5 | 10 hours ago

No it doesn’t, it’s every 4 years, but there are also the Olympics, the World Cup (every 4 years but in other years). This years is the year in between so there are only 2 qualifier games - nothing to big to miss and the team is currently first in their group so they probably qualify without him anyways.

Minimum_Holiday_5611

1 | 10 hours ago

Context matters.

wcooper97 | OKC

33 | 14 hours ago

Healthy Luka incoming 👀

m1a2c2kali | Knicks

3 | 8 hours ago

Not worried he’s gonna show up out of shape now? Lol

tjn24 | NBA

1 | 4 hours ago

till he comes back fat again

Friendly-Hair-4283

185 | 14 hours ago

W dad. As a laker fan, W. He might average 40 next year

GGezpzMuppy | Spurs

74 | 14 hours ago

Unless he gets the dad bod

brnccnt7

43 | 13 hours ago

I’m sure he’s willing to go dad bod again if it means having his family back together and on good terms

axecalibur | CHI

-3 | 7 hours ago

Getting fat doesn’t solve the asshole problem

Laughing-Comanche

25 | 14 hours ago

Again

delta-red-14

0 | 6 hours ago

Still will finish 3rd in MVP voting

NitroLada

-1 | 2 hours ago

40 donuts a day?

electricalserge | Australia

-26 | 11 hours ago

With all his injuries throughout his career and his own willingness to play through them, he’ll be lucky to average even 26ppg next season. His scoring doesn’t just keep going up and he’s this banged up at just 27

obelix_dogmatix | NBA

-38 | 14 hours ago

for all them 50 games he will play …

KWash0222 | Lakers

27 | 14 hours ago

He played 64 this season but OK

pinoomsmith | Thunder

82 | 14 hours ago

good for him tbh, this man deserves a break

DeshiiRedditor | Lakers

79 | 14 hours ago

Wishing him all the best. A family breaking up is always hard, no matter what income bracket you are in.

inightyDAB | Luka Dončić

37 | 14 hours ago

I never want to stop someone from playing for their national team, especially for non-U.S. players whose countries might only have a short window for medals. That being said, as a Lakers fan, I am glad he isn’t playing this summer. He played Eurobasket last summer and carried an insane load for the Lakers during the season and the wear and tear clearly showed.

OctogenerianCoder

8 | 12 hours ago

There’s basically no tournament this summer, just 2 easy qualifier games. They can most likely do it without him.

ChristBKK

13 | 9 hours ago

That’s what the news doesn’t say exactly 😂 it’s super unimportant summer so he can easy take the time off

OctogenerianCoder

2 | 8 hours ago

Yeah, it’s really misleading. I wonder if Hayes will play though.

LauriIsMyHomeBoy | Finland

2 | 6 hours ago

Super unimportant if they miss World Cup because of these games?

wooIIyMAMMOTH

4 | 6 hours ago

They lost the first game against Estonia at home and although they are almost assuredly making it through the first stage (current record 3-1), the record from the first stage carries over to the second stage. If they pick up another loss in the remaining 2 games of the first stage, it is unlikely they make it to the tournament, considering how many teams will make it through the first stage with records of 6-0 or 5-1.

LauriIsMyHomeBoy | Finland

2 | 6 hours ago

There’s a total of 4 matches this summer if they advance from the first group phase. 2 games early July and 2 games late August.

LaggOuTX | Hawks

14 | 14 hours ago

So I guess Hayes probably won’t play as well?

FreddyKruegersGlove | Lakers

44 | 14 hours ago

About to be the Slovenian Wilt lol

ClutchAirball | East

7 | 8 hours ago

Without Dončić his FIBA numbers will likely be worse than his NBA numbers.

supergrega | Heat

2 | 13 hours ago

Shouldn’t need him for qualifiers anyway. They are 3-1 with two supposedly easiest games left to play.

DarkStar668

12 | 14 hours ago

Luka must be bummed. He’s getting to a tough part in his career though. He isn’t old quite yet, but he is approaching 30 and health concerns have been piling up for him.

Gonna be difficult for him to keep being active in everything he wants to do

smokybbq90 | Mavericks

2 | 5 hours ago

It was rough on him earlier on too. 2021 had a long Olympics run. Then he had the 2022 WCF run. Played basketball for like 2 years straight with no break.

Pal__Pacino | Lakers

7 | 14 hours ago

Phew

MrStriploin

6 | 13 hours ago

Your children are more important than anything in the world. Good for him.

RomanMSlo | Slovenia

1 | 40 minutes ago

Agreed. He should be playing for Cedevita Olimpija, Ljubljana, that way he would see his daughters even more. Either this, or make up with their mother and move all of them to the States.

ProfessionalCLA | Spurs

3 | 9 hours ago

Fucking finally, for the first time in his life. Hopefully he sees the benefit of actually taking a break during his prime, getting properly healed up.

grill_smoke

7 | 8 hours ago

Anthony Edwards frantically trying to figure out how to qualify for every national team to avoid being a father

Odoaiden | Timberwolves

0 | 2 hours ago

He’s probably the best player on team America now right? In the Olympics I’d probably still take Curry but Ant is the best NBA player of them right now.

Sensitive_Flow_2361

5 | 14 hours ago

I was expecting rehabilitate his hammy but I guess this is just as good

Devoidoxatom | Warriors Bandwagon

4 | 12 hours ago

His team is so ass anyway. He always has to hard carry so much

PrimeShaq | Australia

6 | 10 hours ago

They are 3-1 without him in the current qualifiers, probably a big reason he’s cool taking some time off.

TraditionalFeeling71 | Cavaliers

3 | 10 hours ago

Thank you Lord Jesus. Focus on your health King.

Jack_The_Sparrow_ | Warriors

2 | 14 hours ago

Post divorce Luka might be the greatest version yet

chup95 | Suns

1 | 14 hours ago

Correct me if I am wrong, but don’t star players usually skip the qualification games anyway?

Marcus-ichiJo | Supersonics

46 | 14 hours ago

This one does though, man loves his National Team more than everything else.

GGezpzMuppy | Spurs

23 | 14 hours ago

Except his daughters.

Cassandrae_Gemini | Slovenia

38 | 14 hours ago

Luka normally hard carries Slovenia thru everything.

neyoless

3 | 8 hours ago

Like he carried the Mavs.

inightyDAB | Luka Dončić

21 | 14 hours ago

Slovenia is probably not in a position for him to skip qualification games if they legitimately want to qualify.

OctogenerianCoder

3 | 12 hours ago

They are actually first in their group so far without him with 2 games left to go, and they are 2-0 against the 2nd seed. They can most likely do it without him.

jopi745 | Finland

9 | 14 hours ago

depends. Markkanen will also play for Finland this summer

Jimmy0034 | Clippers

6 | 14 hours ago

They need luka to carry them.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

6 | 14 hours ago

Depends on the country.

supergrega | Heat

2 | 13 hours ago

They do. It’s only 2 games anyway and they are already 3-1 by basically playing their D squad. There was a 17 y/o in the lineup getting 20+ mins and all the shots he wanted.

HeadGllit

1 | 14 hours ago

W dad

redditnoap | Wizards

1 | 14 hours ago

good

Unusual_Giraffe_6180 | NBA

1 | 12 hours ago

Every fans been begging him for this. Enjoy time with his daughter and get a good rest

ShitassAintOverYet | Bulls

1 | 12 hours ago

That’s no big deal even by European standards.

He is recovering from an injury and often times European federations don’t expect NBA players to come back for a qualifier game, but you sure as shit gotta show up for the actual tournament.

JEROME_MERCEDES

1 | 11 hours ago

Dude out the entire playoffs don’t ask him questions

HurricaneRon | Gran Destino

1 | 8 hours ago

Great decision. I can’t stand seeing injury prone or load management players playing in exhibition games.

cough_landing_on_you

1 | 3 hours ago

Sounds like a good excuse to get out of jury duty.

longdrivesinstapots | Jazz

1 | 3 hours ago

I, too, blame my kids when I don’t want to go somewhere.

CristianMR7 | Heat

1 | 3 hours ago

I respect that

Ace_the_terrible

1 | an hour ago

He lying, he gonna do a detour to Serbia and smash some Breakvica cheeks 🤐

SufficientEducator72

0 | 14 hours ago

Fat Luka returns

SwizzGod | Lakers

0 | 13 hours ago

I like this

Threeballer97

0 | 9 hours ago

Yeah that’s the reason

g_bleezy | Nuggets

-1 | 6 hours ago

He’s gonna be so fat. The lakers tears are going to make me forget about my fat king’s failures in 26.

Makaveli84 | Lakers

2 | 5 hours ago

FAT Luka is better than no Luka. So I take it.

Headlesshorsman02 | Thunder

-7 | 14 hours ago

Wow that genuinely shocks me I figured he would play for them as euro players usually love playing for their countries, it’s a huge honour

Luka77GOATic | Serbia

14 | 14 hours ago

Seeing your kids for longer than a week for the first time in 6 months including your new baby that you have held for a total of like 2 weeks > Playing for the national team qualifiers.

supergrega | Heat

3 | 13 hours ago

For a team that is basically already qualified

links135

-14 | 14 hours ago

Damn. I’ll miss his tantrums in international play.

Kurtz_Angle | Timberwolves

-25 | 14 hours ago

Literally anything but getting in the gym… Sickening.

[deleted]

-27 | 14 hours ago

[removed]

slamfist626 | Lakers

24 | 14 hours ago

This is family not business

IndividualHeat

-11 | 14 hours ago

The timing of it right after the loss kinda suggests that it is. Even with some travel, it’s a lot easier for him to spend time with his kids while playing there than it is here. This was another year of his window wasted and if he wants to win a championship, he really can’t afford more wear on his body.

Luka77GOATic | Serbia

12 | 14 hours ago

He has a custody battle to fight this off season though.

IndividualHeat

-10 | 14 hours ago

I mean his lawyers will be handling that. He’s not going to be busy searching for documents or researching custody laws or whatever. From his comment in the postgame interview about not even being close to returning it sounds like the injury was worse than a lot of the reporting and he really needs to keep healing and rest to make sure he’s more healthy next season.

ThSrT | Pistons

3 | 13 hours ago

The problem is the usage in the Nba, he should change that. His body cannot afford his playing style, he’s not a superman like LeBron or MJ.

IndividualHeat

1 | 13 hours ago

Yeah his usage is definitely too high. Part of the problem is the roster construction of the Lakers. This year he had the highest usage rate of his career (the highest in the NBA) and his normal usage rate was already super high. He can’t carry them through the season and also be healthy for the playoffs wothout things changing.

Luka77GOATic | Serbia

10 | 14 hours ago

He hasn’t seen his daughters for months at a time this year jfc. No wonder he wants to spend time with them.

EwingsRevenge21

-17 | 14 hours ago

Stop 😂

If he wanted to see his wife and kids he could have flown them in instantaneously to any city he was in.

The fact that he didn’t probably lead to his divorce…

Luka77GOATic | Serbia

14 | 14 hours ago

His ex fiancée doesn’t want to live in the US and when he tried to take his daughter to the US while in Slovenia, the police was called.

EwingsRevenge21

0 | 7 hours ago

I’m talking about weekends, he could have flown them all in basically every weekend for visits.

No wife wants to be alone raising kids for 8 months. I’m sure they could afford help (nannies,etc.) but it’s a long time…

brnccnt7

7 | 14 hours ago

We don’t know the specifics, everyones just speculating.

Lets not act like we know who was at fault.

[BasketNews] Luka Doncic has confirmed he will not join the Slovenia men’s national basketball team this summer for FIBA World Cup qualifying games, choosing instead to spend time with his daughters.