By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis and the Lithuanian Basketball Federation revealed the selections for the EuroBasket 2025 on Friday.
Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings is focusing on his wife expecting a kid during the offseason and was officially ruled out. Matas Buzelis of the Chicago Bulls is also out, as well as Kasparas Jakucionis of the Miami Heat. “I don’t think the squad is weaker than planned,” mentioned 65-year-old Kurtinaitis.
Due to late-season injuries, Arnas Butkevicius and Dovydas Giedraitis were removed from the list of candidates to make the final 12-player roster for the EuroBasket. Despite recent ankle surgery, fellow Zalgiris player Ignas Brazdeikis was included and can be a later addition to the training camp, depending on potential progress in rehab.
Preliminary EuroBasket list of Lithuania
- Rokas Jokubaitis (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
- Arnas Velicka (Basketball Lowen Braunschweig)
- Kristupas Zemaitis
- Mantas Rubstavicius (7bet-Lietkabelis)
- Margiris Normantas (Rytas)
- Ignas Sargiunas (Rytas)
- Deividas Sirvydis (Zalgiris)
- Ignas Brazdeikis (Zalgiris)
- Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas)
- Rokas Giedraitis (Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet)
- Tadas Sedekerskis (Baskonia)
- Eimantas Bendzius (APU Udine)
- Laurynas Birutis (Zalgiris)
- Jonas Valanciunas (Denver Nuggets)
- Marekas Blazevicius
- Azuolas Tubelis (Rytas)
Following up on preparations, including friendly games, Lithuania will compete in Group B of the preliminary round, taking on Great Britain, Montenegro, Germany, Finland, and Sweden in Tampere’s Nokia Arena, between August 27 and September 3. The top four seeds from all four groups will switch from pool play to single elimination contests with the knockout stage taking over from September 6 to 14 in Riga.