Denver basketball player Nikola Jokic will apparently not play in the World Basketball Championship.
The coach of Serbia, Svetislav Pešić, has not yet announced the list of players and will do so on Monday, but it seems that the current NBA champion will not be on it.
While we wait for that to finally happen, “Mozzart Sport” has certain knowledge about the names on the list – and it doesn’t look good.
As reported by that portal, Nikola Kalinic has already been removed from the list, who “due to fatigue and accumulated injuries from last season” told the coach not to count on him.
From there, the car just starts going downhill, because apparently Vasilije Micić will not play either. The experienced playmaker has just come to the NBA and the Oklahoma team, so he may be oriented towards getting ready for his debut season as much as possible.
However, the heaviest blow was neither Kalinić nor Micić, but Nikola Jokić’s failure to play.
They learn from “Mozzart” that he will not be in Svetislav Pešić’s team, and that he has already informed the people in the alliance about this.
The reason they state is that Jokić would have to get an extended rest period, and in the USA they don’t value Mundobasket too much as a competition, as evidenced by the team they send to Asia.
The interference of new team captain Bogdan Bogdanović, who was in contact with Jokić trying to convince him, didn’t help either. In the end, it didn’t work…
Mundobasket will be played from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Our national team will start the competition in group A with China, Puerto Rico and South Sudan.
Source: B92.net