NBA star Luka Dončić recently participated in the 2025 European Basketball Championship with the Slovenian national team, and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean said he hopes Luka Dončić will continue to provide more leadership for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Luka Doncic, 26, was traded from the Dallas Mavericks, where he had played for many years, to the Los Angeles Lakers in February of this year. He played 28 games for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024/25 NBA regular season, averaging 28.2 points per game, 43.8% shooting percentage, and 37.9% 3-point shooting percentage.

During his time with the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Dončić was selected to the All-Star team five times.

Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean said in an interview, "I think when he wears the national team jersey, you can see more of Luka Doncic's leadership, and I think this is something he will continue to strengthen in Los Angeles Lakers. He is proud of it, and he is constantly maturing and growing. He is still a young star, and he is finding his own leadership voice."

"You can see in the national team that his role has changed. When they won the European Championship in 2017, he was still a very young player. Now when he looks around, he sees that many of his teammates are no longer in the team. But he has taken on an important leadership role and knows how to lead the team forward."

In addition, in the earlier game against Iceland in the European Basketball Championship, Luka Dončić contributed 26 points for Slovenia to help the team win.

Greg St. Jean continued, "When you watch the games in person, you can see how proud he is to be Slovenian and to represent his country. In the United States, we tend to emphasize individual ability, but here it's all about the team. That's all he cares about. He cares about his teammates and his country, and he just wants to win."

"We're very supportive of Luka Dončić, and this is the kind of basketball he loves to play. He loves playing with these teammates and representing his country."