A pair of NBA superstars will match up this weekend in Greece as they look to keep their home countries’ Olympic hopes alive. The Greek national team, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, will take on Luka Doncic and the Slovenians in the semifinals of one of four ongoing Olympic qualifying tournaments (link via ESPN). The winner of Greece vs. Slovenia will go on to face the winner of Croatia vs. Dominican Republic for a spot in the men’s basketball Olympic tournament in Paris.
In total, four Olympic berths still remain up for grabs. The other semifinal matchups in Olympic qualifying tournaments around the globe are as follows:
- Riga, Latvia:
- Latvia vs. Cameroon
- Brazil vs. Philippines
- Valencia, Spain:
- Spain vs. Finland
- Bahamas vs. Lebanon
- San Juan, Puerto Rico:
- Puerto Rico vs. Mexico
- Lithuania vs. Italy
While none of the other teams fighting for a spot in the Olympics has a perennial MVP candidate like Antetokounmpo or Doncic on its roster, there are many NBA players competing in the qualifying tournaments, including All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis for Lithuania and Deandre Ayton, Buddy Hield, and Eric Gordon representing the Bahamas.
Here are a few more updates from around the international basketball world:
- Former NBA lottery pick Jerome Robinson has signed with Saint-Quentin in France, the team officially announced (via Twitter). Robinson, who was drafted 13th overall in 2018, has appeared in a total of 135 NBA regular season games, including 22 with Golden State last season while on a two-way contract with the Warriors.
- The Australian national team has set its 12-man roster for the Olympics, according to Olgun Uluc of ESPN, who notes that eight active NBA players – Josh Giddey, Josh Green, Dante Exum, Jock Landale, Duop Reath, Dyson Daniels, Patty Mills, and Joe Ingles – made the cut, along with former NBA guard Matthew Dellavedova. Trail Blazers forward Matisse Thybulle is the most surprising omission, Uluc adds.
- Team Canada hasn’t set its Olympic roster yet, but pared it down a little on Wednesday, with Oshae Brissett among the cuts. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter links), Brissett – who is coming off a championship season as a Celtics reserve – asked to withdraw to focus on his NBA free agency. It looks like there are 10 NBA players who are safe bets to be on the Canadian squad, with two roster spots still up for grabs, as Lewenberg outlines in another tweet.
- Nigel Hayes-Davis, the former NBA forward who is part of the U.S. Select Team and was rumored this spring to be drawing NBA interest, has re-upped with Fenerbahce, signing a three-year contract with the Turkish team, according to a press release.
VJ Edgecombe is the standout player of the 1st part of these OQTs. Boy is looking like a definite top10 pick in next summer’s draft & he could be the 1st guard off the board if he keeps this up. I’m a lil concerned he may not get to show a lot of his pg skills with Jeremy Roach going to Baylor as well but either way VJ is a future star.
Overall the success of the Caribbean nations so far has been the big story to me. DR is gonna have their hands full with Croatia but Bahamas & Puerto Rico both have great chances to make the Olympic field.
Slightly/pleasantly surprised that Dice Daniels made the Australian team over Thybulle. That’s absolutely great news for my Hawks. He may not have a huge role with all the guards they have that are more experienced than him but if I’m coaching them I’d have Giddey/Dice/JGreen starting in the backcourt… link to m.youtube.com
Next year’s draft is so deep it’s wild in comparison to this year!
This year’s draft was pretty deep too. The pg class alone was extremely strong
Yeah. Ceiling wasn’t this draft’s strength, but when you have guys like Tyler Kolek, Antonio Reeves, Nikola Djursic, and Jamal Shead getting picked in the second round, it’s a pretty deep class.
Hey Sankara, have you ever heard of VJ Edgecombe?
is that the mascot for honeycomb cereal?
If Brissett wants more NBA minutes he should get out there and play.
Oz squad looking strong
Looking for Duop “Great Barrier” Reath
To continue to ball out at the international level