LA Lakers star Luka Doncic and the Slovenian men’s national basketball team couldn’t reach the semi-final round on Wednesday. The national team suffered a 99-91 loss against Germany, and many of the five-time All-Star’s fans were displeased. Supporters of Doncic criticized the game’s officiating, claiming it was biased.
Doncic had another historic game: 39 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. However, Germany employed an interesting strategy by attacking him in ways that added to his foul total. By the third quarter, the 6-foot-6 star already had four fouls
In FIBA competition, the limit of fouls for a player is five. If a player reaches that number, they’re out of the game. Doncic survived the entire game without committing his fifth. But it still wasn’t enough for them to push for the victory.
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Fans blamed the officiating for being biased. Even the NBA star gestured to the officials when he received his fourth foul in the third quarter.
"Slovenia is getting robbed. Refs got Luka in foul trouble in the first 3 min, he’s not able to play defense for most of the game. Absolute disgrace," a fan said.
"Refs siding with Germans," another fan commented.
"Today we saw a massacre from the referees towards Slovenia. So many uncalled fouls, the star with 4 fouls in 23 minutes! Etc etc" one fan said.
Several fans felt bad for Doncic.
"i don’t think i’ve ever seen a more unlucky international career than luka doncic," someone commented.
"The centre of attention was 3 referees who had the main goal of bullying Luka Dončić," a comment read.
"Polish and Latvian refs want badly to become famous for kicking Dončić out of the game,"a fan pointed out.
Franz Wagner sees no difference in Luka Doncic
This summer, Luka Doncic surprised everyone with his new look. He's skinnier and looking a bit healthier. This was his response to the critics who attacked his conditioning and physique over the past few weeks.
The Lakers star demonstrated his improved skill level as a player in the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket after losing weight. But German forward Franz Wagner doesn't see a difference between Doncic and says that he's still moving the way he moved when he had conditioning issues.
“He’s like that all the time, I see no difference, really,” Wagner said. “Extremely good player, if he got a little bit better, he might have. But it’s tough to tell with him.”
Luka Doncic capped off a historic run in the EuroBasket. In the first six games, he averaged 34.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.2 assists.
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