Luka Dončić Ends Engagement, Faces International Custody Battle Over Daughters

The engagement ring Luka Dončić placed on Anamaria Goltes' finger in July 2023 meant something specific: a future built across continents, between Slovenia and the NBA cities that define his life. By March 10, 2026, that promise was formally over.

Dončić confirmed in a statement to ESPN that he had ended his engagement to Goltes, a Slovenian fashion and fitness model he had known since childhood and dated since 2016. The decision, he said, came down to geography and the repeated failure to bridge it. "I love my daughters more than anything and I've been doing everything I can for them to be with me in the US during the season, but that hasn't been possible, so I recently made the tough decision to end my engagement," he said. "Everything I do is for my daughters' happiness and I will always fight to be with them and give them the best life I can."

The couple share two daughters: Gabriela, born in November 2023, and Olivia, born in December 2025 in Slovenia. The circumstances around Olivia's birth crystallized how badly the relationship had deteriorated. Dončić missed two Lakers games in December to travel to Slovenia for the birth, then sought to bring his eldest daughter, Gabriela, back with him to the United States ahead of a December 7 game in Philadelphia. That plan triggered a confrontation with Goltes, who called police to the hospital. Officers responded and reported they "did not detect any elements of a criminal offense or misdemeanor" connected to Dončić. He left peacefully and flew back to the United States. According to ESPN, that was the last time he saw Goltes or either of his daughters.

Describing the experience of attending Olivia's birth against that backdrop, Dončić offered only fragments of feeling. "I was there for the birth of my daughter, so that means everything to me. But it was definitely a roller coaster," he said. "I don't even know how to describe it. It was a lot."

The legal architecture around the separation is still taking shape. TMZ reported that Goltes filed a petition in California seeking child support and attorney fees. Eurohoops characterized the broader situation as a series of escalating legal maneuvers and a multi-national custody battle, though the precise scope of any custody petition or court orders has not been publicly confirmed beyond TMZ's report.

Through all of it, Dončić has kept playing at a level that defies the circumstances. The 27-year-old is averaging a league-high 32.5 points per game in the 2025-26 season, has scored 51 against the Chicago Bulls on March 12, and posted a 60-point performance against the Miami Heat. Asked by a Slovenian reporter after the Bulls game how he sustains that output while navigating what amounts to an international family crisis, Dončić was direct: "Alright. That's life, I don't know what to say. But that's my job so I have to be here. They pay me a lot to play for them so... and also basketball is giving me some kind of peace when I play a game."

On March 8, four days before that conversation, the NBA fined him $50,000 for directing an inappropriate gesture toward a game official during the Lakers' 110-97 win over the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena, a fine announced by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations James Jones. The fine was a footnote in a week that had already upended his personal life entirely.

Sports Yahoo reported that Dončić had not seen his daughters in over three months as of mid-March. The ring is gone. The legal fight, spanning California courts and Slovenian jurisdiction, is just beginning.