Luka Donćić has spent the last part of his summer playing at the Eurobasket tournament for the Slovenian national team.
Dončić has joined the call for FIBA to modify its group stage schedule from four games in five days due to the increased risk for potential injury. After practice on Monday, Doncic cited that players having less time between games is a risk for the player and would make the clubs players play for unhappy if the players they’ve signed an injury during international play.
“We’re going to play four games in five days,” Doncic said after Slovenia’s practice Monday per Eurohoops. “Yesterday, basically, we had two games in 24 hours. Yes, this should change for everybody. Everybody is doing the same. Everybody has less rest. It’s a problem because of injuries, you know. More injuries can happen. Especially the clubs wouldn’t be very glad.”
Luka Doncic on Eurobasket schedule: Four games in five days? Something that should change https://t.co/wNIbInVWKb
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Doncic and Evan Fournier have been the most vocal critics of the Eurobasket schedule, with both making a similar request that teams need more time to rest and recover between contests. Fournier said he’s aware that since Eurobasket has less games, the urgency to win is “more important.” However, with the intensity and physicality of the international game, playing games at such a condensed pace creates “a real big challenge” for players.
“It’s the EuroBasket, and we have back-to-backs. Back-to-backs are very hard. And back-to-backs in the NBA and back-to-back in the EuroBasket is two different things,” Fournier told Eurohoops. “There’s less games here, so it’s more intense. When you play at 20:30, you usually sleep around 3:00. It’s a real big challenge. To be fair, it’s the same thing for everyone. It would be great if FIBA changed that to allow us to have more rest in between games.”
The Doncic-led Slovenian national team is 2-1 after losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the upset loss, Slovenia has already advanced from the brutal Group B (Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovenia) play.
“This Group is insane, you know,” Doncic said. “All six teams are very competitive. You could lose to any team. All the games are really great to watch. Great for fans. But it’s a really tough Group because anybody can beat you.”
Slovenia is set to play France on Wednesday.
