By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Jordan Loyd officially became a Polish citizen with president Andrzej Duda signing the necessary documents, per Sport.pl.
Eurohoops previously reported that the 32-year-old combo guard is becoming a naturalized player for the senior national team of Poland, heading to the EuroBasket 2025. The native of Chicago is indeed projected to join training camp and be part of the team coached by Igor Milicic.
Jerrick Harding, a recent addition to Basketball Champions League side Rytas, also gained Polish citizenship. However, the 27-year-old shooting guard will sit out the EuroBasket, with Loyd covering the single available naturalized slot on the roster.
For the past ten years, fellow guard A.J. Slaughter was the naturalized player for Poland with appearances in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in 2021 and 2024, and the 2015, 2017, and 2022 editions of the EuroBasket.
Pending the addition of Loyd, the current preliminary list of Poland is headlined by Jeremy Sochan.
Poland’s pre-selection
- Aleksander Balcerowski (Unicaja)
- Aleksander Dziewa (King Szczecin)
- Tomasz Gielo (King Szczecin)
- Daniel Golebiowski (Slask Wroclaw)
- Kamil Laczynski (AMW Arka Gdynia)
- Michal Michalak (Anwil Wloclawek)
- Igor Milicic Jr. (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Dominik Olejniczak (Bertram Derthona Tortona)
- Kuba Pisla (Tauron GTK Gliwice)
- Andrzej Pluta (Legia Warszawa)
- Mateusz Ponitka (Bahcesehir Koleji)
- Jeremy Sochan (San Antonio Spurs)
- Michal Sokołowski (Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari)
- Tymoteusz Sternicki (Slask Wroclaw)
- Szymon Zapala (Trefl Sopot)
- Przemyslaw Zolnierewicz (King Szczecin)
In the final stage of the approaching EuroBasket, Poland will host Group D in Katowice. The schedule in the preliminary round stretches from the opener against Slovenia and Luka Doncic on August 28 to matchups with Israel, Iceland, France, and Belgium until September 4. The top four seeds will move to Riga for the knockout stage of the tournament, to be played between September 6 and 14.