By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Playing the waiting game without guarantees for a favorable outcome is the case for Spain about Usman Garuba being cleared for the 2022 EuroBasket.
Garuba, 20, sustained an injury on his left ankle in July and was forced to sit out the 2022 NBA2K23 Summer League held in Las Vegas. And remained on the injury list since moving from the Houston Rockets to the training camp of the Spain senior national team.
Sergio Scariolo updating his status mentioned Spain is willing to wait for Garuba to recover. With key official games coming up, his side will begin Group L of the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers by hosting Iceland and visiting the Netherlands in late August before diving into EuroBasket in September.
Spain split wins with Greece in prep games Tuesday and Thursday. Another home-and-away friendly series opposite Lithuania follows next week, Tuesday in Gran Canaria and Thursday in Vilnius. Not much time left for Garuba to get in shape before the World Cup Qualifiers and EuroBasket.
Another injured player, Real Madrid’s Alberto Abalde was cut, the Spanish Basketball Federation announced Friday. Casademont Zaragoza’s Santiago Yusta left the training camp as well, after a brief appearance in the first half of the series versus Greece.
Spain’s remaining EuroBasket selections:
Dario Brizuela (Unicaja)
Lorenzo Brown (Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv)
Quino Colom (Girona)
Jaime Fernandez (Lenovo Tenerife)
Rudy Fernandez (Real Madrid)
Usman Garuba (Houston Rockets)
Fran Guerra (Lenovo Tenerife)
Juan Hernangomez (Toronto Raptors)
Willy Hernangomez (New Orleans Pelicans)
Sergio Llull (Real Madrid)
Xabi Lopez-Arostegui (Valencia)
Juan Nunez (Real Madrid)
Joel Parra (Joventut)
Jaime Pradilla (Valencia)
Sebas Saiz (Alvark Tokyo)
Yankuba Sima (Umana Reyer Venezia)
Spain will compete in Georgia looking for a way through Group A of the preliminary round to the knockout stage of EuroBasket.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL