Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has been named the team captain of Slovenia for the FIBA Basketball World Cup. NBA insider Marc Stein reported that Doncic will lead the Slovenian squad that will travel to Okinawa for the group stages of the international meet from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.

This sure is a well-deserved designation for Doncic, who has been with Slovenia's senior team since 2017, a year before he entered the NBA.

Luka Doncic became a game-changer for Slovenian basketball. He helped tow the national team to its first-ever Eurobasket championship in 2017, earning him all-tournament team honors. Doncic then led Slovenia to its first-ever Olympic men's basketball berth. He then dropped 48 points on Argentina in a 118-100 win to open Slovenia's 2021 Tokyo Olympic campaign, the most by a player in his Olympic debut. Slovenia went all the way to the semifinals in Tokyo before settling for fourth place.

Two years later, Slovenia is back in Japan, but this time to take part in the FIBA Basketball World Cup that Japan is co-hosting with the Philippines and Indonesia. Slovenia has been grouped with Cape Verde, Georgia, and Venezuela in Group F. The games will be played at the Okinawa Arena.

As part of an agreement with FIBA after the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia took the hosting rights, Japan requested to have Doncic and Slovenia play in Okinawa, but with Slovenia expected to top Group F, there is a chance the Filipino fans get their turn to see the Mavs guard in action in the knockout stages.