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Luka Doncic, an all-NBA guard for the Dallas Mavericks, has been ruled out of Slovenia’s active roster for precautionary reasons during their exhibition game against the U.S. in Malaga, Spain.
Doncic, who was 24 years old, suffered a minor injury to his left knee in the second quarter of Friday’s exhibition against Spain while trying to score despite faking. He managed to finish the game strong and scored 17 points with five turnovers in their 99-79 defeat.
In a statement, the Slovenian national team expressed their disappointment with Doncic’s performance and stated that they did not want to risk anything for any reason before heading to Japan to continue their World Cup preparations.
Slovenia’s second game in a row was highlighted by Doncic’Second match, which marked two triple-doubles in his first three appearances with the national team this summer as he readied for the World Cup that starts later this month.
FIBA’s seventh-ranked player, Slovenia, is competing in the World Cup for the first time since its fourth place finish at Tokyo two years ago.
The last match for Slovenia is against Japan on Aug. 19. They then play Venezuela in the World Cup on August 26 in Okinawa, Japan before hosting games against Georgia (Aug. 28) and Cape Verde (Ukraine).
The World Cup will be held in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia from August 25 to September 10.
Doncic’s average of 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8 assists per game for the Mavericks last season is part of the two All-NBA players who are set to participate in the World Cup this summer.
The Associated Press and Reuters were involved in the writing of this report.