By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
As officially announced by the Slovenian national team, the 33-year-old Jaka Blazic will miss this summer’s appointment with his country, forced to be out due to back pain. He has been going through it for quite some time now.
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Slovenia will seek another qualification for the Olympic Games after making history in Tokyo. In order to achieve that, they will need to overcome a stacked FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus, first going up against New Zealand and Croatia, and eventually against hosts Greece, the Dominican Republic, or Egypt.
With the Slovenian national team, he won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2017, averaging 6.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game over 9 games alongside Goran Dragic, Luka Doncic, and Anthony Randolph, among others.
After returning to Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana following one season away in the Basketball Champions League with Bahcesehir, the experienced Slovenian forward had 16.1 points and 4.5 rebounds over 40.9% from beyond the arc in this year’s BKT EuroCup.
He also played with the green-and-orange powerhouse from 2019 to 2022, and from 2011 to 2013, when it was called Union Olimpija. Jaka Blazic also spent time with Crvena Zvezda (2013-15), Baskonia (2015-17), Andorra (2017-18), and Barcelona (2018-19).
#mojtim priprave tokrat začenja brez Jake Blažiča. Branilec slovenske izbrane vrste se namreč že nekaj časa sooča z bolečinami v hrbtu in bo po dogovoru z vodstvom reprezentance in zdravniško službo primoran izpustiti tokratno akcijo.#kzs pic.twitter.com/RzteWjxEzP
— Košarkarska zveza SIovenije (@kzs_si) June 10, 2024
PHOTO CREDIT: 2023 FIBA World Cup