Report: Lakers coach tagged Luka Doncic as Slovenia’s best defender

Of all the players who suited up in the recent EuroBasket, maybe no one was more dominant than Los Angeles Lakers star guard Luka Doncic. He led the tournament in scoring with a whopping 34.7 points per game while also ranking in the top 10 in rebounds (8.6) and assists (7.1) per contest.

But to the surprise of some, he also turned some heads on the defensive end. Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean, who was part of Slovenia’s staff for EuroBasket, even tagged Doncic as the best defensive player on the national team.

“At one point during the tournament, sources told ESPN, St. Jean showed a video edit of Doncic’s defensive effort to Slovenia’s coach, Aleksander Sekulić,” ESPN’s Dave McMenamin wrote. “St. Jean believed that Doncic, beyond his offensive brilliance, was the team’s best defensive player, too. The edit showed — possession by possession — Doncic’s proper placement, communication with teammates and overall commitment.”

Even if the defensive chops Doncic showed in EuroBasket don’t translate into the 2025-26 season, folks should at least have a clearer answer as to the cause behind the defensive troubles he has experienced at times in the NBA. Last season, many pointed to his conditioning as the reason for his track record on that end, but his mentality has also been criticized.

If he doesn’t show significant growth in the coming season in light of his physical transformation this offseason, then it might just be his mentality on that end of the floor that’s the issue. Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce is one person who has been on record as saying that it’s Doncic’s mentality that’s holding him back as a defender.

It’s possible that Doncic doesn’t play the game with a mindset that’s conducive to him reaching his full potential on that end. He has such a heavy workload with all he does as a scorer and playmaker and exerts so much energy while conducting the offense that it may be hard for him to lock in on the other side of the floor.

It’s certainly encouraging that St. Jean believed Doncic to be Slovenia’s premier defensive player during EuroBasket, but at the same time, folks maybe shouldn’t get their hopes up and expect him to be a highly disruptive defender in his first full season as a Laker unless he starts to show more of that in NBA action.