Zurab Talakvadze

We look at team Slovenia at Eurobasket 2025 and this leaves an expression of a One Man Show. Just like listening to a mighty Motorhead, where Lemmy was bigger than universe. His gravely voice and thunderous bass left no room to operate for others. And, boy, Motorhead were huge! Or, may be a glimpse look at any film starring Daniel Day Lewis. He just captures the show. And this is exactly what Luka does. This Slovenia belongs to him.

And it was all different back in 2017, whet Slovenia took home the gold. This Slovenia will go as far as Luka’s stamina will allow them to. That Slovenia was a flawless machine with deep roster and that machine was always timely oiled and on a mission. Well, time is a tough beast. And, in this kingdom of immortals, Luka looks like a mere mortal, who needs timely rest. And, that’s when troubles start.

Back in the day, Yugoslavia was a basketball heaven. Five medals on Olympic Games, 3 time gold medal winner on World Championship and another five jackpots on Eurobasket in the second half on XXth century and Serbia was dangerous opponent as well. That team did not win Gold, was a force to be reckoned with. And Serbia now boasts the deepest team on Eurobasket 2025.

That Slovenia was different. Built around the talents Goran Dragic, Luka and immense energy of Anthony Randolph, team was destined to go as far as health and luck would have allowed to. Slovenia was dangerous, Slovenia was sexy and Slovenia had that swagger. A small country was getting closer to grab that long awaited Gold. A country of 2 million has risen to its occasion. Slovenia was ready and willing. They had talent, but no podium on later stages.

Now was the time.

That Eurobasket was loaded with stars. Spain, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, France, Greece and Lithuania had some strong teams and even Turkey was considered to be a better team than Slovenia. So far, so good. Slovenia was ready. Walking in the shadows of those titans, Slovenia did not have the pressure to win it all and to win it now. Day by day, game by game, that team was getting stronger and getting in the best possible shape for the most important stage of the tournament.

8 years ago Luka was a young, promising player with a bright future. This time Luka is a monster with some big time experience and a teammateship with no less, that King himself. Lebron James gives Luka a big room to operate and a chance to open up in a clutch time. When you are playing next to Lebron, everything is possible.

8 years ago Slovenia was playing take to prisoners basketball. The defense was weak, but that offence was amongst the bests in the history of European basketball. They were leading not only in points scored, but also in points allowed. And the fact that Slovenia was winning with a pure class, was the head scratching dilemma for a medal hungry opposition. Slovenia was that good.

Luka? He was demonstrating a godlike basketball, but he was not the alpha dog on that team. And, Luka has changed a lot since. And, Luka has evolved into a beast, that sometimes is unstoppable. The diference was that eight years ago, Luka has always had insurance of backing up. This time, Slovenia needs more than Luka. That team was sharp. This team is a toy statue, that has millions of supporters, but barely anyone believes, that Eurobasket will finish as a triumph for Luka and Co. Not this time, not this place. The others are just better and deeper.