Luka Doncic Still Nursing Injury That Plagued Him Throughout World Cup

Slovenia suffered a tough loss at the hands of Team Canada in the quarter-final of the FIBA World Cup this past week, and now the country's superstar Luka Doncic has indicated that he simply wasn't fully healthy during the tournament. 

I do not know what to say... (The thigh is) not okay. At the same time, I have to prepare for one more game, and then for a whole season in the NBA.

This can't be a promising thing to hear for Dallas Mavericks fans.  

The 4-time NBA All-Star even had an MRI last month to check out what's going on with his still bothersome thigh injury, after it slowed him last NBA season as well. 

"It is an old injury, which caused me problems in March in the NBA,” Doncic said. “Therefore, we performed an MRI. Everything is okay. Nothing worse.”

But to hear him say that "it's not okay" even now, with Mavericks camp set to open in a few short weeks, that's a cause for concern. It's likely that Doncic will have a much lighter camp than his teammates, as they allow some time for it to heal up at least a bit. But seeing as it's been going on since March, that healing seems unlikely. 

The Mavs will certainly need Luka playing at a high level if they are to get back to being a serious playoff team, after falling completely out of the postseason mix last year. 

Photo: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports