"As long as he can walk, I think he will play" - Mavericks GM drops major update about Luka Doncic's participation in the Olympics
Luka Doncic isn’t even a week removed from arguably the biggest heartbreak of his NBA career, but he's already back in the news owing to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It isn't news anymore that Doncic played the 2024 NBA Playoffs through a few injuries. The NBA regular season can prove to be gruelling, with players often picking up niggles. And when it gets to those niggles in the postseason, players often play through the pain, as the glory of lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy outweighs the pain, and the injuries are tended to in the offseason.
If Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is to be believed, Luka Doncic won’t have a long offseason as well. Harrison said, as per ESPN’s Tim MacMohan:
“That’s one of his biggest joys. As long as he can walk, I think he will play for them.”
This is not one bit surprising as Doncic has made it clear throughout the years that he just loves playing basketball. While superstars often sit out international tournaments, the Slovenian guard looks forward to them. The only surprising bit about Harrison’s comment was that he almost seemed onboard with the idea.
NBA GMs are infamous for valuing players’ fitness over national duty during the offseason. That's true across sports, as the financial implications of a player missing time are too large to ignore.
The Olympic qualifying tournament begins July 2. Slovenia is slated to face Croatia (July 2) and New Zealand (July 3). If the team advances, it will have to face one of the Dominican Republic, Egypt or Greece in the semis. After that, Luka Doncic and Co. would need to win the final to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
What injuries did Luka Doncic play through in 2024 NBA Playoffs?
Luka Doncic’s injury concerns started in the first round against the LA Clippers when he sustained a right knee sprain. He also sustained a left ankle sprain during the playoffs. The worst, though, came in the finals as Doncic suffered a thoracic contusion that required him to take pain-killing injections prior to games.
However, he didn’t let the injuries deter him nor did he use them as an excuse after a tough Game 5 loss. When asked post-game about the injuries, Doncic said:
"It doesn't matter if I was hurt (or) how much I was hurt. I was out there, trying to play. But I didn't do enough.”
Apart from the above-mentioned injuries, Luka Doncic also battled regular bloodied knees that comes with intense playoffs basketball. While the injuries must have surely hurt, our guess is the finals loss probably hurt more. And there’s no better way to fix such hurt than to get back to basketball, even when it means suiting up for your country to try and beat all odds in the Olympics.