EuroBasket has already delivered drama, and Slovenia’s matchup with France may have produced the most disrespectful moment yet involving Luka Doncic.
The game ended with an unusual scene involving Doncic and French guard Sylvain Francisco, who scored a last-second layup after Doncic dapped him up.
With France leading comfortably, Francisco appeared to dribble the clock out.
Doncic approached for a handshake, which was accepted, and Slovenia’s players started walking off the floor. That’s when Francisco drove to the hoop for an uncontested layup, sparking anger from Doncic and his teammates.
Doncic voiced his frustration afterward, via BasketNews he told Slovenian media.
“At the end we shook hands,” Luka said. “The point difference can be important, but we shook hands. I didn’t think he’d go and score again.”
The context makes the situation complicated. EuroBasket uses point differential as a key tiebreaker, so every basket matters in group play. Francisco later admitted his mistake and issued an apology directly to Doncic.
“I said I was sorry,” Francisco explained to reporters. “I actually went to shake hands and go to the layup like I said to Luka. The only thing that I really regret is just shaking hands — I should have told him, ‘Nah, play defense,’ because I was going for a tie.
“You know, we’ve got point differential, which is really important in EuroBasket, and that’s why it just clicked in my head. At the end of the day, I would never do that, but I take full responsibility for it, and I just gotta move forward.”
While the incident caused tension, it also highlighted the intensity of international competition and the pride NBA stars like Doncic bring when representing their countries. Slovenia is 1-2 in group play, but Doncic has already made history with a rare EuroBasket triple-double and became the youngest player since Tony Parker to surpass 400 career points in the tournament.
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