“Impossible”: Luka Doncic Makes Heartbreaking Confession About His Daughters Ahead of New Lakers Season

Luka Doncic has a lot of challenges ahead of him heading into the 2026-27 season. Now that LeBron James is no longer around, Doncic has been promoted to the Los Angeles Lakers' captain. He's set to lead a group that has essentially a completely different roster from last season.

While everyone's excited to see what Luka can do as the Lakers' leader, he's also dealing with personal challenges. As of this writing, he's still dealing with a battle for custody of his daughters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, the Slovenian star opened up about the struggles he faces when spending time with his daughters as he prepares for the upcoming season.

"Yeah, it's pretty hard. I didn't see them almost the whole (2025-26) season," Doncic shared. "Yeah, I can't go another season like that. You want to spend time with your kids every day... I saw them for five days in the whole season, which is impossible to do. But, you know, I have to focus on basketball and still perform."

Doncic's struggles began in 2023, when he and his ex-fiancée had a disagreement over the NBA star's desire to bring his daughters to the United States and live there permanently.

Unfortunately for Luka, Anamaria Goltes wanted to remain in Slovenia, which ultimately resulted in the three-year dispute they have today.

It's clear that Doncic truly cares for his daughters, as he skipped the summer games with Team Slovenia to focus on securing custody of them. As of this writing, Luka's most recent move was the Hague Convention petition he filed earlier this October in hopes of finally bringing his daughter to Los Angeles.

However, as things stand now, there isn't a concrete winner in the couple's legal dispute. There's also no set timeline for when the custody battle will end.

Lakers' Trip to Slovenia Was Luka Doncic's Method to Spend Time With Daughters

Earlier this season, Luka Doncic took the Los Angeles Lakers roster to Slovenia for team building. Given that the majority of the roster has been overhauled, the Lakers must solidify their chemistry as early as possible before the 2026-27 season commences.

Apparently, Doncic had another purpose for bringing his team to Slovenia. To Luka, it was his way of balancing his time with work and his daughters. Because Doncic rarely sees his two daughters, bringing his work to his home country was the most sensible way to balance both aspects of his life.

"You know, obviously, I had a lot on my mind last year," Doncic told Illustrated Sports. "This year, I spent the whole summer with my daughters, which is amazing for me. I was very happy just to be with them."

While it's sad to see Luka go through such a difficult situation, at the end of the day, he still has duties to fulfill as part of the Lakers. With the upcoming season just around the corner, everyone is intrigued to see what Doncic can do as the Lakers' ultimate leader.