The most talked about “revenge body” in the NBA since Shaquille O’Neal dropped a boatload of weight after he was traded from the L.A. Lakers to the Miami Heat in 2004 will be on full display at EuroBasket 2025.
Armed with a brand new body and brand new three-year, $165 million contract extension with the L.A. Lakers, Luka Doncic will be one of the biggest storylines to watch at the FIBA European championships, co-hosted by Cyprus, Finland, Poland, and Latvia. The finals will be held at Riga, Latvia.
Doncic’s body transformation isn’t the only thing different about him. The Lakers superstar is also more assertive, and his Slovenia teammates are taking notice.
“He’s embracing the challenge of being the face of a francise in the NBA and here. His words carry weight,” Slovenia guard Klemen Prepelic told SportKlub about his longtime national team teammate.
“You can already see signs of the new Luka,” Prepelic added. “It’s probably something expected of him by the Lakers as well. He’s the leader now. His voice counts the most.”
Doncic was basically fat-shamed by his former general manager, Dallas Mavericks executive Nico Harrison, when Harrison went on his why-did-you-trade-Luka explanation tour. Harrison said the main reason why the Mavs shipped Luka to L.A. was because of Doncic’s questionable work habits and conditioning.
Doncic used it as motivation as he worked himself into the best shape of his basketball career. The 26-year-old global star shed some serious pounds by committing to an offseason training program and a stricter diet. The end result was a body transformation that nearly broke the internet.
Images with the hashtag “Slim Luka” surfaced all over social media after Men’s Health published photos of an almost unrecognizable Doncic and his newly ripped body. Practically everyone with a TV show and a podcast couldn’t stop talking about it.
Doncic will put his slender body to the test as he leads Slovenia against a stacked tournament field that includes FIBA powerhouses Serbia, France and reigning World Cup champions Germany.
Here are the teams to watch at EuroBasket:
Teams with Star Power but Lack Firepower
SLOVENIA – Luka Doncic was only a teenager when Slovenia stunned the hoops world and won EuroBasket in 2017. But that was eight years ago and Goran Dragic is no longer around to help Luka. Slovenia enters the EuroBasket 2025 with a top-10 rating in the EuroBasket power rankings but the road to the title got tougher after forward Vlatko Cancar, formerly of the Denver Nuggets, withdrew from the competition, leaving the squad extremely thin in the frontcourt. Slovenia will be outmanned and outgunned.
Despite not having the necessary firepower, they have one nuke in the form of Luka Doncic. Any team with Doncic can’t be counted out because the L.A. Lakers superstar is capable of carrying an entire nation on his back.
GREECE – If Luka Doncic is the center of the Slovenian universe, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the solar energy that powers the Greek national squad. The two-time NBA MVP from the Milwaukee Bucks by himself is capable of backpacking Hellas and carry it out of the group stage and into the knockout round. But he won’t be alone in this fight. Giannis will be joined by two of his brothers, Kostas and Thanasis. Giannis plays better when he has family around him.
Tournament Dark Horses
TURKEY – Turkey drew the short end of the stick when it was placed in the same group as Serbia. Despite being in a tough group, Turkey has enough firepower to finish second in the group and qualify for the knockout stage. The head of the Turkish squad is Houston Rockets All-Star center Alperen Sengun. The 22-year-old big man is coming off a solid NBA season (19 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists) and he’s primed to announce his presence at the FIBA stage. Sengun has plenty of help on the frontcourt. Adem Bona carved out a solid role as a rotational player with the Philadelphia 76ers and he’s coming off a strong showing for the Sixers at the NBA summer league. Cedi Osman, who played six seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and now playing for Panathinaikos in Greece, and Furkan Korkmaz (played seven seasons with the 76ers) provide Turkey with two outstanding shooters. Shane Larkin — son of baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin — is the team’s starting point and might the most important player. If Larkin has a strong tournament, Turkey could be in the medal round.
ITALY – The Italians are entering the tournament with plenty of momentum, with one of their wins in the friendlies coming against Kristaps Porzingis (Atlanta Hawks) and Latvia. Italy is in Group C with Spain and Greece. Spain isn’t the same basketball power it once was and it’s undergoing a changing of the guard while Greece is beatable if Giannis has a poor outing. Italy’s roster doesn’t have the star power but it has solid NBA-level talent. Simone Fontecchio and Nico Melli lead a balanced Azzurri squad capable of advancing past the group stage and into the knockout round.
Top 3 Teams Competing for the Podium
3. FRANCE – Despite the absence of Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, and Nic Batum, France remains one of the top contenders because of its incredible talent depth. France will definitely miss Wemby’s game-changing skills, Gobert’s defense and Batum’s leadership, but there is no talent shortage on this year’s EuroBasket squad. Les Bleus fields a talented roster full of current NBA players — Bilal Coulibaly (Washington Wizards), Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), Alex Sarr (Wizards), Guerschon Yabusele (New York Knicks) — and former NBA players like Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Theo Maledon. France has so much depth the team cut former New York Knick guard Frank Ntilikina, Moussa Diabate (Hornets) and Ousmane Dieng (OKC Thunder). With Wemby, Gobert and Batum not on the squad, there is a void that could be filled by younger French studs such as Risacher and Sarr to step out of the shadows of their more famous veterans and get their own shine.
2. GERMANY – Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner headline a battle tested German squad that brings back the core group that won gold at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Manila. Andreas Obst, one of the best shooters in the German Bundesliga, joins Schroder in the backcourt, giving the Germans a superb 1-2 punch at point guard and shooting guard. Steady 3-and-D wing Isaac Bonga and NBA veteran center Daniel Theis round out the core unit that won the FIBA World Cup. Leading scorer Franz Wagner will be tasked with a bigger role, especially with his brother Mo Wagner sidelined as he’s recovering from a torn ACL. Tristan da Silva, Franz’s teammate with the Orlando Magic, might be an X factor and could be part of the finishing lineup. The pressure is on first-year coach Alex Mumbru to maintain the momentum built up over the last two years.
1. SERBIA – With a stacked roster that includes three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the Serbians (rated No. 2 in the FIBA world rankings) are the heavy favorites to reach the final in Riga and hoist the EuroBasket trophy.
The Serbians have very little weaknesses and they are simply too good and too big to fail. They have a surplus of size and length, from guards to forwards to centers. Head coach Svetislav Pesic has a plethora of shooters like Bogdan Bogdanovic (L.A. Clippers), Aleksa Avramovic (Dubai), and Marko Guduric (Olimpia Milano).
Serbia has great size up front with 6-10 Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat), 6-11 Tristan Vukcevic (Washington Wizards), 6-11 Filip Petrusev, 7-0 Nikola Milutinov. And they have The Joker, the best center in the world.
Serbia will compete against host nation Latvia, Turkey, Estonia, Portugal and Czechia in Group A. Serbia should advance to the knockout round as Group A winner, and should be one of the finalists in Latvia.
Jokic led Serbia to a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the Denver Nuggets superstar has never won a gold medal for his country in FIBA competition. Winning EuroBasket would be a tremendous accomplishment for The Joker, and this unit might be the best Serbian team Jokic has ever been a part of in his international career. This is the year when Jokic breaks through and finally captures that elusive gold medal for Serbia.
Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastbreak.net. Follow and subscribe to his YouTube channel at @onemanfastbreak1.