By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Spanish federation announced the extended roster of the national team for the summer of 2024 and Ricky Rubio is notably absent. Spain will host one of the four Olympic qualifying tournaments and is one of the favorites to gain one of the last four spots in the Paris Olympics, however, Rubio will not be part of the effort.
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After losing to Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Spanish league, Rubio admitted that his future in Barcelona and basketball, in general, is unknown: “I have no idea, it hasn’t been easy”.
Rubio has already retired from the NBA and missing the chance to make it to the Olympics is one more indication that he might be considering not playing again.
Meanwhile, this will be the last summer of captain Rudy Fernandez with the Spanish national team. As coach Sergio Scariolo said: “We have 22 players, with 15 of them who will start on Monday the 10th our preparation and the rest will join as they finish their commitments in their respective leagues in Spain, Greece, Israel, in addition to the limitations in the commitment of NBA players. We have an important challenge which is to qualify for the Games. Furthermore, it would be the sixth Olympic Games for our captain, Rudy Fernández, something that motivates us. We play at home and that means added pressure, but I am convinced that the Valencia fans will help us in difficult moments. Our task will be to re-create that environment at a collective level so that we can maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses”.
One more notable absence is Real Madrid’s veteran point guard Sergio Rodriguez, however naturalized Lorenzo Brown returns and he is expected to be the starting point guard of the team, with which he won the Eurobasket two years ago.
The 22 players called up are the following:
· Alberto Abalde (Real Madrid), 24 caps
· Alex Abrines (Barça), 57 caps
· Santi Aldama (Memphis Grizzlies), 10 caps
· Darío Brizuela (Barça), 50 caps
· Lorenzo Brown (Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv), 15 caps
· Alberto Díaz (Unicaja), 36 caps
· Rudy Fernandez (Real Madrid), 255 caps
· Sergi García (Río Breogán), 8 caps
· Usman Garuba (Golden State Warriors), 31 caps
· Fran Guerra ( Lenovo Tenerife), 12 caps
· Juancho Hernangómez (Panathinaikos), 64 caps
· Willy Hernangómez (Barça), 93 caps
· Sergio Llull (Real Madrid), 162 caps
· Xabi López-Arostegui (Valencia Basket), 38 caps
· Juan Núñez ( Ratiopharm Ulm), 17 caps
· Joel Parra (Barça), 37 caps
· Jaime Pradilla (Valencia Basket), 25 caps
· Josep Puerto (Valencia Basket), no caps
· Miquel Salvó (Dreamland Gran Canaria), 7 caps
· Yankuba Sima ( Unicaja), 12 caps
· Edgar Vicedo (Lenovo Tenerife), 8 caps
· Santi Yusta (Casademont Zaragoza), 10 caps