Italian forward Danilo Gallinari tops the list of the most disappointing and impactful absences for EuroBasket 2022, writes Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. Gallinari injured his knee in a World Cup qualifying game last week and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus, sidelining him not only for the European Basketball Championship but likely for the start of his Celtics career as well.
Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia), Ricky Rubio (Spain), Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Paolo Banchero (Italy), and Victor Wembanyama (France) are among the other most notable EuroBasket absences, as Barkas details — some of those players will be absent due to injuries, while others opted out of the tournament as they prepare for the upcoming 2022/23 season.
Here’s more on EuroBasket, which tipped off today:
- Eurohoops identifies the top 10 players participating in EuroBasket, while ESPN (Insider link) ranks the top 25 to watch. Eurohoops has Giannis Antetokounmpo at the top of its list, followed by Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic, and Rudy Gobert — ESPN moves Jokic up to No. 1, sliding Giannis and Luka down one spot each.
- Within that ESPN Insider story, Kevin Pelton says Suns forward Dario Saric and free agent guard Dennis Schröder are among the players he’ll be keeping a close eye on at EuroBasket. Saric hasn’t played since 2020/21 due a torn ACL, while a strong EuroBasket showing could help Schröder secure a spot on an NBA roster in time for training camp.
- In his latest Substack article, Marc Stein explains why this year’s EuroBasket is the most anticipated version yet. In addition to the high number of NBA players participating, the race for the gold appears more wide open than usual, Stein writes.
- In another Eurohoops article, Barkas makes his predictions for which teams will come out of each EuroBasket group and what the knockout round will look like.
Paolo gonna be on the American team sooner than later. Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if they put him on next summer’s World Cup squad
This Turkey vs Montenegro game is a bunch of heat. I def didn’t know Montenegro had ballers like this outside of Vucevic who is possibly the most impactful absence. I like this youngster Zoran Vuceljic for them. Shane Larkin finally coming alive for Turkey here late in the 2nd qtr but they’re still only up 4
Difference in the game been Shane Larkin. He was not good in the 1st qtr & Montenegro took advantage & controlled the action for the most part. Larkin came w/i abt an inch of getting embarrassed on a fast break early in the 2nd & I guess that woke him up bc he’s been lights out since then. A running floater by Cedi Osman gives Turkey a 10pt lead at half
Turkish team gonna have to be alot more consistent if they’re gonna fulfill my prediction of them making the Final. Montenegro has started the 3rd on a 8-0 run & forced an early timeout
Turkey still up 2 goin to the 4th. I’m predicting Larkin (or maybe Sengun/Cedi) shows up big time in this 4th & leads his team to the W but it should be a good finish either way…
Flat start to the qtr from Turkey
Bojan Dublvic been the best player on the court apart from Larkin goin crazy from trey in the 2nd, yet Turkey keeps leaving him open. His consecutive treys give Montenegro a 5pt lead w/ 3:30 left
Furkan Korkmaz drops in the gw shot as Montenegro lets a big W slip away. Great game
It is alarming how frequently you feel the need to make posts. 8 (and counting) on 1 story is insane
Lol I’m gonna take a wild guess and say u didn’t enjoy this game
Luka spinning & dunking on Iggy Braezdakis is definitely the highlight of the tournament so far. That guy is the 21st century Magic Johnson fr. If Lithuania can concentrate on feeding Domas & JoVal on every possession they can & def will get back in this game tho
It’s basically the brilliance of Luka & Dragic vs the size/depth of Lithuania. So far it’s tied here late in the 3rd
Lithuania taking control with a run that is being sparked by their twin towers. Former NYK great Mindaugas Kuzminskas is shooting the lights out & playing great overall. Luka is still extremely dangerous tho. Slovenia down 5 w/ 6:30 to go
The array of amazing passes from Luka in this game have truly been something special. He’ll have to settle for a hockey assist on the huge trey by Goran that pushes Slovenia’s lead to 4 w/ 2:30 left in reg
you’re making me not like Luka anymore
By comparing him to Magic?
Luka pulled off a successful flop, drawing a flagrant foul on Domas & that pretty much ended things. JKidd had a front row seat to Luka doing some very JKidd type things in leading his team to a hard fought W. Speaking of hard fought, much props to former ACC great Mike Tobey for battling with JoVal & for showing off great hands on offense
by not shutting up
How would that effect the way you feel towards Luka?
I appreciate the commentary as I wasnt able to check these games out. How can I watch them? Also, how was Goran?
Dirk getting his national team jersey (14) retired in Cologne before the Germany/France game. Good stuff