Greece ended up one game short of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, falling to the Czech Republic in a qualifying tournament championship game on July 4.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was not playing for Greece in that game because his Milwaukee Bucks were preparing for the NBA Finals, which started a couple of days later. However, the best player on the Greek team — and maybe in the world — is looking ahead to EuroBasket next September and hinted on Twitter he plans to play.
Taking it day by day. But I can’t wait 💪🏾🔥🇬🇷 https://t.co/I08HlPUAuM
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) September 3, 2021
We are a year out from that tournament and a lot of things could happen to change Antetokounmpo’s mind, but he seems to be seriously considering it. He takes great pride in representing Greece and even took the NBA Larry O’Brien Trophy there this offseason.
It will be interesting to see which NBA stars — Luka Doncic with Slovenia; Nikola Jokic with Serbia; Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier with France; and the list goes on — choose to sit out the tournament and rest, and which ones will represent their country next September. Deep playoff runs, injuries, and a host of personal issues could impact decisions in either direction, but you know it’s on a lot of players’ minds.