Luka Dončić and the undefeated Slovenian national team will face Australia in a second-round FIBA World Cup matchup on Friday that will be full of Maverick connections.
Slovenia dispatched Cape Verde on Wednesday morning to finish Group play 3-0 and earn an advantageous spot in the second-round draw.
Their reward, however, is not necessarily all that great.
Australia is one of the international heavyweights loaded with numerous NBA players and they went 2-1 in Group play, culminating with a blowout win over Japan on Tuesday, which assured their spot in the second round and that they would not be relegated to the Classification pool for teams that finished 17 through 32 in the Group play.
The Australians have Maverick guards Dante Exum and Josh Green on their roster.
Germany and Georgia also are in Group K with Slovenia and Australia, making it a difficult group.
Two of those teams will advance to the knockout rounds, starting with the quarterfinals next week.
Meanwhile, Canada and Dwight Powell swept through their first round of Group play and will be the top seed in Group L in the second round. Also in their Group is Spain, Brazil and Latvia.
The United States will see Lithuania, Montengro and Greece in their Group.
The World Cup, being played in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, runs through Sept. 10.
Twitter: @ESefko
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