Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the European basketball championship has been postponed for a year, and it takes place in 2022 from September 1 and 18 in four countries. The group stages take place in four cities, in Tbilisi (Georgia), Prague (Czech Republic), Milan (Italy) and Cologne (Germany) while Berlin (Germany) will host the final stages.
On the floor, the best European nations, but also and above all some of the best NBA players. As proof, we find the last two MVPs: Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019 and 2020) and Nikola Jokic (2021 and 2022). Leaders of Greece and Serbia, they are not the only superstars to have made the trip.
On the side of France, we find Rudy Gobert, triple best defender in the NBA, and Evan Fournier, back of the Knicks or Théo Maledon, the young leader of the Thunder. On the Slovenian side, there is Luka Doncicone of the best NBA players, favorite to be elected MVP of the competition.
A strong racket in Lithuania
In total, there are about thirty NBA players with the All-Star interior Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas to guide Lithuania, the Saric-Zubac-Bogdanovic trio for the Croats or the Kurkmaz-Sengun-Osman trio for Turkey. Even Germany, which hosts the finals, has its trio of NBA players with Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner and Daniel Theis.
As for Spain, it goes there without the Gasol brothers, retired in selection, nor injured Ricky Rubio. It is the Hernangomez brothers and the young Usman Garuba who bring a little NBA touch.