By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Far from ideal situation developing for the Serbia senior national team.
Alen Smailagic was ruled out of the 2022 EuroBasket due to injury, as widely reported by Serbia outlets. The Partizan NIS forward was yet to be cleared to join the training camp and discussed his recovery status with national team selector Svetislav Pesic. The decision was to remove him from the training camp roster, consequently from the list of players available for the 2022 EuroBasket and preceding 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Serbia’s remaining selections:
Aleksa Avramovic (Partizan NIS)
Nemanja Bjelica
Dejan Davidovac (CSKA)
Ognjen Dobric (Crvena Zvezda mts)
Marko Guduric (Fenerbahce Beko)
Marko Jagodic-Kuriza (Buducnost VOLI)
Ognjen Jaramaz (FC Bayern Munich)
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Nikola Kalinic (FC Barcelona)
Balsa Koprivica (Partizan NIS)
Vladimir Lucic (FC Bayern Munich)
Vanja Marinkovic (Cazoo Baskonia)
Vasilije Micic (Anadolu Efes)
Nikola Milutinov (CSKA)
Nemanja Nedovic (Crvena Zvezda mts)
Filip Petrusev (Crvena Zvezda mts)
Dusan Ristic (Carplus Fuenlabrada)
Borisa Simanic (Casademont Zaragoza)
Captain Milos Teodosic has also been reported as an outgoing player. Earlier issues saw Nikola Jovic and Aleksej Pokuševski prevented from the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively, to help their country in the upcoming international fixtures. At the top, Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks was ruled out after undergoing right knee surgery during the offseason.
The team coached by Pesic is set to begin the final round of the World Cup European Qualifiers in late August and jump into EuroBasket in September. Before the official games, the series of friendly games tip-off Saturday by hosting Montenegro in Belgrade.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL