By Javier Molero/ jmolero@eurohoops.net
A huge setback for the senior national team of Spain, concerning 34-year-old Lorenzo Brown and the upcoming EuroBasket 2025. The naturalized point guard is replaced in the squad by talented Mario Saint-Supery, as officially announced.
Starting in 2022 with a gold medal and being named to the All-Star Five of the previous edition of the EuroBasket, the native of Rockford, Illinois, featured in last summer’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament and from there in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In addition, he earned two caps in the Qualifiers of the FIBA World Cup 2023 but missed the final stage of the tournament. Overall, he immediately became a valuable asset for head coach Sergio Scariolo in the point guard position.
Despite being included in the preliminary squad of Spain, the experienced floor general won’t participate play in this summer’s EuroBasket due to personal reasons, as reported by AS on Wednesday.
Instead, Saint-Supéry has been called up — the talented guard from Málaga, who played for Unicaja and BAXI Manresa in the ACB League, and recently joined the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the NCAA.
He was a standout in Spain’s youth national teams and was named MVP of the 2022 FIBA U16 European Championship. He also delivered strong performances at the 2023 and 2024 FIBA U18 European Championships, averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game in the latter, including a triple-double of 35 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against Slovenia.
Saint-Supery made his debut for Spain’s Senior National Team in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers on November 22, 2024.
With training camp set to tip off on July 28 and following preparations including six friendly games, La Familia will compete in Group C of EuroBasket’s preliminary round. The schedule in Limassol stretches from an opener against Georgia on August 28 to Bosnia-Herzegovina on August 30, Cyprus on August 31, Italy on September 2, and Greece on September 4.
The top four seeds from all four groups will switch from pool play to single-elimination contests, with the knockout stage of the tournament to be held in Riga from September 6 to 14.