At 3:05 AM on July 13th, the French men’s basketball team will face off against Serbia in a friendly match. Both teams are top-tier powerhouses in the global basketball scene, featuring multiple current NBA All-Star players, making this clash highly anticipated.
Serbia is the king without a crown, having reached the finals of major tournaments three times in the past decade but falling short each time. They lost to the USA in the 2014 World Cup final, suffered another defeat against the USA in the 2016 Rio Olympics final, and were defeated by Germany in the 2023 World Cup final, missing out on the championship yet again.
Serbian basketball is brimming with talent, and the strongest center in today’s NBA, Nikola Jokic, hails from there. He missed last year’s World Cup but was included in the recently announced list of 16 players for training camp. The team also includes sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Atlanta Hawks, Heat’s rising star Nikola Jovic, Pokuševski from the Hornets, as well as several other active NBA players. In addition, there are players like Marko Guduric, Milutinov, Avramovic, and others who are well-known in European leagues, making their overall strength very formidable.
The French national team is the host of the Paris Olympics, and their roster is filled with stars. They are led by the No. 1 draft pick in the NBA, Victor Wembanyama, along with Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Kévin Kouyaté, Frank Ntilikina, and other NBA stalwarts. They also have Nando De Colo, a renowned player in Europe. Their lineup has quality both inside and outside, especially the twin towers of Wembanyama and Gobert, which provide significant defensive presence on the international stage.
This is Serbia’s first official warm-up match, and it remains uncertain whether Jokic, Bogdanovic, Jovic, and others will play. If Jokic does take the court, he will face off against Wembanyama and Gobert’s twin towers. In contrast, France has already played three warm-up matches, winning big against Turkey by 50 points and Germany by 24 points, although they narrowly lost to Germany by 5 points in their last game. However, Wembanyama was absent in that match, suggesting that France may have better chemistry and form.
Rosters for both teams:
France’s 12-man squad: Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Bilal Coulibaly, Andrew Albicy, Isaia Cordinier, Nando De Colo, Mathias Lessort, Frank Ntilikina, Mathias Strazel, Guerschon Yabusele.
Serbia’s 16-man squad: Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Mićić, Pokuševski, Jovic, Lazić, Gudurić, Marko Guduric, Đorđe Dobrašinović, Petrušev, Milutinov, Ristić, Avramović, Aranitović, Davidovac, Pravdić.
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