Luka Doncic is pursuing another legal avenue to have his daughters with him in the United States as the Los Angeles Lakers begin their preparations for the new season.
The Athletic reported Friday that Doncic has filed a Hague Convention petition seeking to bring his children from Slovenia to the U.S., according to sources familiar with the situation.
“Nothing is more important to me than my daughters,” Doncic said. “I will do whatever it takes to make sure they have both parents present in their lives.”
The report concerns Doncic’s ongoing custody dispute. It does not announce a decision granting his request or establish when his daughters might travel to the United States.
That distinction matters as a family situation that has already influenced his offseason continues into October. The news is a reported legal step toward having his children nearby, with the outcome still unresolved in the announcement.
What the Hague Convention petition means
The Hague Convention provides a framework for certain international disputes involving children. Its name alone does not establish what happened between two parents or determine which parent should prevail.
The U.S. State Department distinguishes between applications seeking a child’s return and applications seeking access or visitation. Although the paperwork can be similar, the requested outcomes differ.
For an access application, the department says a parent should explain the arrangement being sought. That can include where visits would occur, how a schedule would work and who would cover the expenses. Those practical questions are different from simply announcing that a parent wants to see a child.
The Athletic’s public announcement identifies the treaty involved and Doncic’s reported goal. It does not set out a proposed visitation schedule, the length of any requested stay or the terms that would govern travel. Those details should not be assumed from the headline description of his petition.
The department’s broader explanation of the convention also makes clear that filing an application does not guarantee a child’s return. It describes a civil process in which the child’s habitual residence and the applicable parental rights can matter.
The same guidance recognizes access and visitation cases involving parents and children in different partner countries. For that reason, a report that someone invoked the convention should not be treated as proof that the other parent committed an abduction.
International cooperation also has limits. In its description of assistance available in cross-border child cases, the State Department says it can help parents identify resources and attorneys. In qualifying cases, it can submit an application and monitor its progress through another country’s administrative and legal systems.
The department cannot act as a parent’s courtroom representative, take custody of a child or promise access. Those limits explain why invoking an international framework does not bypass the underlying legal process. This is general information about the department’s role, not a report that U.S. officials are handling Doncic’s petition or have made any decision about his family.
Friday’s development is therefore significant without being a final resolution. Doncic has reportedly pursued a mechanism intended to address an international family arrangement; the announcement does not establish a custody award, an approved move or a finding against either parent.
The earlier California case involved child support
Doncic and his former fiancee, Anamaria Goltes, share daughters Gabriela and Olivia. Their earlier proceedings in California concerned a request for child support and attorney fees, a separate issue from the reported effort to bring the children to the U.S.
In an Aug. 4 ESPN report carried by ABC7, Dave McMenamin detailed Goltes’ withdrawal of the California petition. She said she wanted to reach an agreement with Doncic.
Goltes described her intention as resolving the matter “amicably and by a mutual agreement which is in the best interests of our children,” according to that report.
ESPN also reported at the time that custody discussions remained ongoing under the Slovenian courts. The withdrawal of a California support request consequently did not establish that every question involving the children had been settled.
That earlier reporting helps explain why Friday’s announcement represents a further development rather than a contradiction of the summer news. A change in the status of one proceeding did not necessarily answer where the children would spend time with each parent during the NBA season.
Family considerations shaped Doncic’s summer
Doncic had already made a consequential basketball decision while trying to spend time with his children. In May, he announced that he would not join Slovenia’s national-team schedule that summer.
His explanation was that international basketball travel would compete with time with his daughters.
“I love my daughters more than anything, and they will always come first in my life,” Doncic wrote at the time.
His public explanation placed family access at the center of that decision, months before Friday’s petition report.
The connection between his family life and an NBA schedule also predates this offseason. In December 2025, Doncic had traveled to Ljubljana for Olivia’s birth and missed two Lakers games while away from the team.
Doncic announced the birth on Instagram on Dec. 6. The Lakers had played in Toronto and Boston during his absence, illustrating the distance involved when a family milestone in Slovenia coincides with his work in North America.
That trip was a specific, previously reported absence for a birth. It is background to the family’s circumstances, not evidence that the latest petition will cause him to miss upcoming games. Friday’s announcement contains no such basketball availability update.
Doncic recently shared a message to his daughters
Before training camp, Doncic again addressed his children publicly in a Sept. 20 Instagram message covered by Lakers Daily.
Writing in Slovenian and addressing Gabriela and Olivia by their initials, he expressed that he would keep them close in his thoughts wherever he traveled. Lakers Daily translated part of the caption as: “Wherever I go, you are always with me. I love you!”
The post was a personal message, rather than an announcement of a court decision or an agreement with Goltes. It offered no basis for concluding that the family’s legal questions had been resolved before camp.
That makes the reported petition a distinct update to the earlier message. The Instagram caption expressed his attachment to his daughters; Friday’s reporting identifies a legal step toward arranging their presence in the United States.
The Lakers are preparing for Doncic’s return to competition
On the basketball side, Doncic said at Monday’s Media Day that he would enter training camp without restrictions following his hamstring injury. That was an update about his physical readiness as the Lakers returned to organized preparations.
His family circumstances and his medical clearance answer different questions. The former concerns access to his children across international borders; the latter concerns his ability to participate in basketball activities.
For readers following both developments, the available reporting should remain separated accordingly. There is a reported petition to bring his daughters to the U.S., and there is his earlier statement that he was ready for camp. Neither establishes the result of the other.
The next substantive family update would be an agreement, a ruling or a confirmed arrangement explaining when the children can be with him. Until then, the reported filing adds a development to the custody dispute without settling its outcome.
