By George Orfanakis / info@eurohoops.net
The new challenging EuroLeague format leaves little time for rest to the players during the season. However, for some, the situation is slightly worse, as they have to play for their national teams instead of recharging for the new season in summer.
Eurohoops has examined the rosters of all EuroLeague teams, in regards to how many of each team’s players will participate to EuroBasket. Our list also includes preselection choices that might not stick with the national teams until the end.
Eurobasket players: 8
Countries: Turkey, Serbia, Italy, Greece
Bobby Dixon, Sinan Guler, Melih Mahmutoglou, Baris Hersek, Marko Guduric, Nikola Kalinic, Gigi Datome, Nicolo Melli and Kostas Sloukas are the 9 players of the reigning EuroLeague champions currently occupied with Eurobasket. (Update: Nikola Kalinic was ultimately cut from Serbia due to injury).
Eurobasket players: 8
Countries: Russia, France, Spain
The core of the Russian NT features lots of CSKA Moscow stars, meaning that the team will have to start working out without many players.
Mikhail Kulagin, Vitaly Fridzon, Nikita Kurbanov, Andrey Vorontsevich, Semen Antonov, Leo Westermann, Nando De Colo and Sergio Rodriguez are preselected by their respective NTs.
Eurobasket players: 7
Countries: Greece, Latvia, France
Just like CSKA, Olympiacos will start without eight players, as Vangelis Mantzaris, Kostas Papanikolaou, Ioannis Papapetrou, George Printezis, Giorgos Bogris, Dimitris Agravanis, Janis Strelnieks, Kim Tillie are all preparing for EuroBasket. (Update: Kim Tillie was the last cut of the French NT)
Barcelona
Eurobasket players: 6
Countries: Spain, France, Finland, Montenegro
Sito Alonso will have to wait until EuroBasket is over so that he can reconstruct Barcelona for the new season, as 6 players are NT bound. These are Juan Carlos Navarro, Pierre Oriola, Thomas Heurtel, Kevin Seraphin, Petteri Koponen, Tyrese Rice.
Eurobasket players: 6
Countries: Spain, France, Montenegro, Iceland
Valencia‘s case is peculiar, as the team is awaiting some players to return shortly if they don’t make it to Eurobasket.
Antoine Diot, Guillem Vives, Fernando San Emeterio, Joan Sastre, Bojan Dubljevic, Trggvi Hlinanson are the mombers of the club that may or may not play in the tournament.
The rest of Euroleague teams:
In the following chart, you can see in detail which players will be missing from each team until the EuroBasket is over.
Anadolu Efes (2) is the team with the least players missing from their club’s training camp due to the tournament, while Maccabi Tel Aviv is not missing anyone.
| Team | Number of players | Players |
| Zalgiris Kaunas | 5 | Edgaras Ulanovas, Arturas Milaknis, Isaiah Hartenstein, Vasilje Micic, Axel Toupane |
| Baskonia | 5 | Adam Hanga, Janis Timma, Tornike Shengelia, Johannes Voigtmann, Vincent Poirier |
| Olimpia Milano | 5 | Mantas Kalnietis, Andrea Cinciarini, Awudu Abass, Dairis Bertans, Marco Cousin |
| Brose Bamberg | 5 | Patrick Heckmann, Luka Staiger, Maodo Lo, Daniel Hackett, Alexey Nikolic |
| Real Madrid | 4 | Luka Doncic, Jonas Maciulus, Ognjen Kuzmic, Anthony Randolph |
| Khimki | 4 | Igor Zaytsev, Alexey Shved, Andrei Zubkov, Marko Todorovic |
| Unicaja Malaga | 4 | Dragan Milosavljevic, Sasu Salin, Giorgi Shermandini, Adam Jasinski |
| Panathinaikos | 3 | Nick Calathes, Nikos Pappas, Thanasis Antetokounmpo |
| Crvena Zvezda | 3 | Branko Lazic, Mattias Lessort, Milko Bjelica |
| Anadolu Efes | 2 | Dogus Balbay, Krunoslav Simon |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0 | – |