After dominating in the first half of Slovenia’s exhibition game against Latvia, Luka Dončić left early in the second half due to a knee injury.
In a bit of a scary moment, Luka had a teammate fall into his legs on defense, leading the Lakers superstar to hop off the court without putting weight on his leg.
Eventually, Luka limped to the bench before talking to the trainers and heading to the locker room. He would eventually return to the bench with ice on his knee and no limp, but did not return to the game…despite Luka’s protests.
All of that came after a sterling first half from Luka. From the jump, he was locked in for Slovenia, scoring 15 points in the first quarter. That included a long-distance 3-pointer, another 3-pointer through contact and a layup while being fouled all before checking out in the final minute.
It was a short-lived break for Luka, who returned to the court to open the second quarter. While he started to lose some rhythm to his jumper, he was still drawing a host of fouls, repeatedly going to the line in the period.
His struggles shooting the ball helped Latvia go on a run to overturn an early double-digit deficit and eventually take the lead. After another brief spell on the bench late in the half, Luka returned and set up a 3-pointer and a buzzer beating layup to help Slovenia steady themselves.
The third quarter started like the end of the second with Luka struggling to connect on his jumpers, allowing Latvia to go on another run and force a timeout. That immediately preceded Luka’s injury, which ruled him out for the rest of the game.
At the end of the game, Luka was walking around on the court, greeting fans and players without ice on his knee or any limp. Latvia ended up winning the game with relative comfort, 100-88.
Slovenia will play again on Tuesday and Thursday of next week before having a week off before the start of EuroBasket. Luka’s status will become a bit clearer, then, in the coming day and week.