Slovenia, with Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean, has incorporated some Los Angeles Lakers strategy into their EuroBasket 2025 games, strengthening the bridge between Luka Doncic's national and NBA play.
The Slovenian national team has opened FIBA EuroBasket 2025 with a 1–2 record, losing to host nation Poland and France but defeating Belgium.
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic
Position: PG, SG
Age: 26
Height: 201 cm
Weight: 104 kg
Birth place: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Through these three games, Slovenia's superstar Luka Doncic has been nearly unstoppable. The Los Angeles Lakers guard is averaging 33.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 3.3 steals.
Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean, who also serves as an assistant for Slovenia under head coach Aleksander Sekulic, revealed that the team implements some of LA's strategy to make Luka even more difficult to stop in FIBA basketball.
"There's a little bit," St. Jean responded to BasketNews' question. "I think we've tried to have as much as possible, where we have open communication. Coach Sekulic is a fantastic coach, and obviously, he has a great system and has had a lot of success here with the national team. He's coached Luka and known him for a long time.
"We had a relationship prior, in 2022, so we've talked a little bit about some different ways to utilize Luka," the Lakers coach added. "And we've tried to all come together and put our basketball brains together to try to set our team up for success. And we've used a few things from the Lakers. Obviously, there's been some stuff that we've used from his [Sekulic's] book. It's been a great partnership."
Credit FIBA
St. Jean added that the flow of ideas goes both ways, with the Lakers also taking notes from EuroBasket.
"There's a lot of stuff that we're watching and seeing," he said. "Obviously, Luka is someone who's growing and evolving. He's getting better every single day. But there are things that we see in the tournament, whether it's an opponent doing it or we're doing it, that I'll sit there and I'll take my notes and say, 'Hey, that's something that would be great for us to try with the Lakers. Or that's something I haven't seen in the NBA.'
Slovenia / Schedule
"There's a lot of really good players and really good coaches over here. So, I'm just trying to learn as much as possible."
According to St. Jean, the Lakers–Slovenia connection helps create a smooth transition for Luka.
"It's important to have some familiar faces around and people who can help to have a seamless transition," he explained. "You know, it's easy to relate and create some — we use the word 'translation' when it comes to language, but there's also translation when it comes to terminology and some different things like that. So, it's been beneficial for me.
"Maybe he might say different if you ask him, who knows," St. Jean added. "But it's been really good, and we feel like it's been a positive partnership thus far."
Credit FIBA
"We're really excited. I mean, he worked really, really hard," St. Jean noted. "Obviously, we're extremely proud of him.
"He's had a fantastic summer, and this is just a step in the right direction," the coach went on to say. "But I know he's excited. We're excited for the season, but we have business to attend to right now here."
This summer, Doncic committed long-term to Los Angeles by signing a three-year, $165 million maximum contract extension.
Pelinka explained that flying across the Atlantic was well worth it to support Luka after the work he put in this offseason.
Pijus Sapetka
Pijus Sapetka began his basketball media career in 2021, building on years of closely following the sport. Since then, he has reported from a variety of basketball events, including the EuroLeague Playoffs, Lithuanian Cups, LKL Finals, EuroCup games, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and Goran Dragic's Farewell Game. He holds a degree in Journalism & PR.
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