How Serious Is Luka Doncic’s Knee Injury?

There’s no greater honor for an athlete than representing your country. Last summer’s Olympics proved that, as fans around the world were treated to some of the best and most competitive basketball imaginable. By time the dust settled in Paris, Steph Curry had added to his mystique by helping Team USA win the gold medal, while Serbia and France were left with the agonizing feeling of wondering what might have been.

While playing for your country has tremendous upside, there can also be some drawbacks. We saw that with Joel Embiid, who endured an injury-plagued 2024-25 season in large part because the Olympics kept him from resting his infamously fragile knee.

The Olympics won’t take place for another three years, but some of the NBA’s top players are in action well before the season starts as they represent their countries in the EuroBasket tournament. The opportunity for glory awaits, but, unfortunately, so does the opportunity for injury.

Luka Doncic signed a three-year, $165 million extension with the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month, finally making official what had been assumed since he was acquired at February’s trade deadline — the Lakers are his team going forward.

Lakers fans and Luka have enjoyed a bit of a summer romance these last few months, not only because of his extension and commitment to the team, but also because of the offseason work he’s put in to get himself in better shape. Lakers nation is dreaming of an MVP season, but those hopes were nearly derailed this weekend in one scary moment.

Here was the play pic.twitter.com/E4vZRmmKfZ

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) August 16, 2025

Luka had scored 26 points in 17 first-half minutes, but he was collateral damage on this play in the third quarter. His Slovenian teammate Gregor Hrovat crashed into him under the basket while attempting to defend a Latvian player’s drive.

That sound you heard was an entire fanbase dropping to its knees in supplication to the basketball gods, praying that their savior would be OK.

What is Luka Doncic’s status?

Luka left the game and didn’t return, but it looks like he’s going to be just fine. The injury was diagnosed as just a contusion, aka a bruise, and Team Slovenia even tweeted that he would be with the team today as it trains for its next EuroBasket warmup against Great Britain.

It’s unknown if Luka will suit up for Tuesday’s game, but he should be totally fine when Slovenia begins EuroBasket play in 10 days against Poland. Barring any setbacks, he’ll also be good to go when the NBA season kicks off in late October.

Many Lakers fans were already planning on catching some EuroBasket action so that they could see just how dangerous the slimmed-down version of Luka could be, but now they’ll be watching with bated breath to make sure that he gets out of the tournament in one piece.