By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Ahead of games against Latvia in Riga and Belgium in Nis, the Serbia Basketball Federation released a list of 20 players to be available for the fixtures of the 2023 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers, as selected by national team boss Svetislav Pesic.
While Nikola Jokic and other NBA players are expected to join the national team later in the offseason, Nemanja Bjelica and Boban Marjanovic were called up for these games. Serbia will be in action on 30 June in Latvia and 3 July back home.
NBA draft prospect Nikola Jovic along with Danilo Andjusic (AS Monaco), Aleksa Avramovic (Partizan NIS), Nemanja Dangubic (Partizan NIS), Dejan Davidovac (Crvena Zvezda mts), Ognjen Jaramaz (FC Bayern Munich), Marko Jagodic-Kuridza (Buducnost VOLI), Balsa Koprivica (Partizan NIS), Vanja Marinkovic (Baskonia), Aleksa Novakovic (Borac Cacak), Marko Pecarski (Borac Cacak), Filip Petrusev (Anadolu Efes), Dusan Ristic (Urbas Fuenlabrada), Borisa Simanic (Mega Mozzart), Milos Teodosic (Virtus Segafredo Bologna), Dejan Todorovic (Lenovo Tenerife), Uros Trifunovic (Partizan NIS), and Aleksa Uskokovic (Mega Mozzart) make out the rest of the pool.
Carrying results from Group A, Serbia will be placed in Group I in the second round. The top three teams of the new six-team group will punch in a ticket for the 2023 World Cup.
The second round of the Qualifiers starts in late August, shortly before the 2022 EuroBasket. In the preliminary round of the major international tournament, Serbia in Group B is set to face the Netherlands, hosts Czech Republic, Finland, Israel, and Poland.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL