Luka Doncic heading to Manila for 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup quarterfinals

Basketball star Luka Doncic, along with the Slovenia men's basketball team, will be coming to Manila for the 2023 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals.

This comes as the prestigious tournament is now down to its final eight, and among those who managed to secure a place is Doncic’s home country.

His team emerged victorious against Australia with a 91-80 win in Okinawa, Japan, becoming their fourth win in the tournament and assuring them that they have a slot in the final phase.

Doncic scored his team 19 points on 4-of-9 shooting, delivering seven rebounds and six assists while his teammates Mike Tobey and Gregor Hrovat chipped in 18 and 10 points, respectively.

This made Slovenia become one of the top two teams of Group K along with Germany, which managed to roll past Georgia for a 100-73 victory. The two teams will have a showdown on Sunday, Sept. 3 to determine the top seed in the group.

As for the Philippines, Gilas has one more game with China on Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum. The team played four games: Gilas vs. the Dominican Republic, box score of 81-87; Gilas vs. Angola, box score of 70-80; and Gilas vs. Italy, box score of 83-90. The game with South Sudan was their fourth loss in this year’s FIBA World Cup.

The final phase of the quadrennial meet is set to take place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.