Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo to play for Greece in Olympic qualifiers this July

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Giannis Antetokounmpo will return to the court in July. Vassilis Spanoulis, the head coach of Greece’s national team, told reporters that Antetokounmpo will be present for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus, via SPORT24’s Harris Stavrou.

Antetokounmpo strained his left calf in April and missed the Milwaukee Bucks’ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.

The tournament will begin on July 2. Greece, the host country, will play its first game on July 3 against Dominican Republic. The other four teams in the tournament are Slovenia, Croatia, New Zealand and Egypt. Only one of them will advance to the Paris Olympics.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is widely expected to play for Slovenia, despite the fact that the tournament will begin less than three weeks after the conclusion of the NBA Finals (and less than two weeks if the series between the Mavericks and the Boston Celtics goes more than five games).

Antetokounmpo last played for the Greek national team at EuroBasket 2022. He missed last summer’s FIBA World Cup while recovering from knee surgery.

This will be Antetokounmpo’s first time playing for Spanoulis, a legend of Greek basketball. In a farewell video for Spanoulis’ retirement in 2021, Antetokounmpo said, “Without Vassilis, there would be no Giannis.”

Eight spots in the Olympics are accounted for, as France got an automatic berth as the host country and Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan and the United States have qualified. Four more spots are up for grabs; in addition to the one in Greece, there will be qualifying tournaments in Latvia, Puerto Rico and Spain from July 2-7.

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/bucks-star-giannis-antetokounmpo-to-play-for-greece-in-olympic-qualifiers-this-july/

Author : James Herbert

Publish date : 2024-06-03 15:25:04

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