Luka Doncic will not play for Slovenia this summer. This is a first in his adult career. For almost ten years, his summers always meant one thing: wearing the Slovenian jersey. He started playing for the senior team when he was only 17 years old. The very next year, he led them to a big EuroBasket title. But this year, his summer looks very different.

“We already know that I won’t play for the national team. The main reason is my daughters,” he said. “Everything else is pretty much the same. I’m doing individual workouts, training in the gym, and also playing other sports.”

He made this choice because of a tough legal fight over his two daughters, Gabriela and Olivia. A situation Luka Doncic addressed directly back in May when he withdrew from Slovenia’s FIBA World Cup qualifying roster.

“I love my daughters more than anything, and they will always come first in my life,” he wrote at the time. “As I continue working toward joint custody of my daughters, I have been forced to make a difficult decision between traveling and playing for the Slovenian national team.”

The reported custody battle became public in March 2026 when the Lakers star announced that he had separated from his longtime fiancée, Anamaria Goltes, and was involved in a legal dispute concerning their two daughters. According to ESPN, he said that he wanted his daughters to be with him in the U.S. during the season, but that was not possible.

He stated that “everything I do is for my daughters’ happiness” and that he would continue fighting to be with them.

Leaving the national team is a huge change for Doncic. He played through extreme tiredness in the 2017 EuroBasket. Doncic also represented Slovenia at the 2020 Olympics and in multiple EuroBasket tournaments, delivering performances like a 34-point outing against Nikola Jokic’s Serbia in overtime and a 31-point game in World Cup qualifying against Sweden.

Stepping away from that role voluntarily, rather than due to injury, reflects how much weight the custody situation is carrying in his personal life right now.

Luka Doncic suffered a significant hamstring strain on April 2 during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Early reports described it as a hamstring injury with no immediate return timeline, and the Lakers were cautious about his recovery. However, the injury proved more serious than initially hoped. He missed the rest of the regular season and the entire postseason as the Lakers managed his recovery.

What’s filling the summer instead is a new routine – and a new hobby.

A quieter summer for Doncic after a demanding year

Doncic had an amazing, but stressful, first full season in Los Angeles. After his big trade to the Lakers, he scored 33.5 points, got 7.7 rebounds, and averaged 8.3 assists per game. Sadly, he was sidelined with a torn leg muscle as the Thunder knocked his team out of the playoffs.

His last game for Slovenia was at the EuroBasket 2025 tournament. Germany beat his team in the quarterfinals. Now, Slovenia will have to try to qualify for the FIBA World Cup without its best player.

However, he has now found peace in a new hobby.

“This year, golf has become part of the routine, so it’s a little different,” Doncic said. “Golf is amazing. We played a lot with the team before. Now we can’t because we’re apart. It’s really relaxing. You’re out in nature, away from your phone, at peace. It’s one of the best things.”

This summer’s version of Doncic looks different – no international travel, no national team commitments, and a new sport providing the kind of mental reset that years of constant competition rarely allow. Slovenia continues its FIBA World Cup qualification campaign without him, with the process running through March 2027, while Doncic spends his offseason on individual training and time with his daughters.