The ‘voices’ spoke the truth: Nikola Jokic, MVP of the NBA Finals with the Denver Nuggets and probably the most decisive player in the world, will not go to the Basketball World Cup from Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines with the Serbian national team. The best player of the last world basketball campaign will miss the big event of the summer and leads a striking collection of absences from one of the great powers of the ‘Old Continent’.
Jokic, king of the world: the Denver Nuggets are NBA champions
Although one of his best teammates in the Nuggets, the Canadian point guard Jamal Murray, will go, Jokic will not be part of the game in the World Cup. It did not seem very feasible given the demands of the last campaign in which they reached the fifth game of the Final. Thus, the ‘Jóker’ will be missing after the crash of the last EuroBasket. “He is not physically and mentally ready to take responsibility in the way that is expected of him,” explained national coach Svetislav Pesic.
He is not physically and mentally to take responsibility
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In addition to Jokic, that of ‘Vasa’ Micic, brand new signing of the Oklahoma City Thunder in his jump to the NBA since the Euroleague, or that of Nikola Kalinic, who finished his last season with Barça at a high level, are notable absences in a favourite… which will be a little less so.
Four NBA… and many doubts
Pesic’s list is headed by four NBA. Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks) is the best of all given his qualities and ability to lead the team from the touchdown. Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat) hardly had a leading role in the finalist of the campaign. Aleksej Pokusevski (Oklahoma City Thunder) will be an interesting physical project for their inside rotation. And Filip Petrusev, the last to ‘make the Americas’ heading to the Philadelphia 76ers, will give other alternatives on the inside to the former Barcelona coach.
At the same time, other regular Euroleague figures such as Dobric, recently signed by Virtus, the Baskonia player Marinkovic, Partizan players such as Smailagic, Trifunovic or Avramovic, and the next in the ‘star scale’ of the Balkan team such as the interior Nikola Milutinov or Marko Guduric complete a team that will face South Sudan, China and Puerto Rico in group B in Manila in the first phase. .
2023-07-24 14:57:16
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