by Henry L. Liao
August 3, Sunday (Manila time), is D-Day (Decision Day) for Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic on whether to sign a contract extension with the LA Lakers or not. Doncic, who is playing for his motherland in the upcoming **FIBA EuroBasket in four sites—Cyprus (mayron basketball team ba sila?), Finland, Latvia, and Poland—**starting Aug. 28 (Manila time), could opt not to extend, in favor of just playing out the 2025–26 season and later decline his player option in 2026–27 (the final year of his current deal) to hit unrestricted free agency next summer (a catastrophe for the Lakers if this scenario plays out).
Doncic is eligible to ink an extension of four more years and $223 million with the reigning Pacific Division titlists, or a shorter re-up of three years worth $160 million for future considerations.
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Spain is the defending EuroBasket champion, having defeated France, 88–76, in the 2022 finals. The Spanish will be bannered by Santi Aldama (Memphis) and Eli Ndiaye (Atlanta).
Besides Luka Doncic, other top-notch NBA players seeing action in the 24-nation FIBA EuroBasket, which lasts through September 15 (MT), include Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo for Greece, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic for Serbia, and Jonas Valanciunas for Lithuania, the Houston Rockets’ Alperen Sengun for Turkey, and the Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen for Finland.
Reigning World Cup champion Germany will parade Franz Wagner (Orlando), Dennis Schroder (Sacramento—the MVP of the 2023 World Cup in Manila), and Tristan da Silva (Orlando).
France, the silver medalist in the 2024 Paris Olympics, will be without San Antonio Spurs wunderkind Victor Wembanyama (who is recovering from deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder) but still looks formidable with Guerschon Yabusele (New York), Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta), and Alexandre Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly from Washington.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will have the services of Jusuf Nurkic (Utah) and Luka Garza (Boston). Israel will employ Deni Avdija (Portland) and Ben Saraf (Brooklyn). The defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder will have Ousmane Dieng (France) and Nikola Topic (Serbia) as their representatives.
Officially, I became a professional sportswriter on June 6, 1981, when my first materials on basketball, particularly about the NBA, Read more
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