Some of the top EuroLeague coaches called out FIBA for the Qualifiers schedule, which prevents national teams from having their best players available for the Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.
Only a few EuroLeague players will eventually play in the penultimate 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers, which come to an end on Monday, November 14.
The majority of them didn’t join their respective national teams either because their teams didn’t allow them to or to avoid any injury risks.
Fenerbahce head coach Dimitris Itoudis, Olympiacos head coach Giorgos Bartzokas and Partizan head coach Zeljko Obradovic talked about the conflicting schedule and made it clear that a solution has to be found as soon as possible.
“I understand the players. Greece and the national teams need players, and FIBA ​​sees this. Is all this fair? No. Is it equal? No,” coach Itoudis said, via Eurohoops.net.
“We have to discuss this, all this pressure on Euroleague players, coaches, and teams. We take it for granted that there are no NBA players coming, and I understand that,” he added.
Coach Bartzokas noted that only the fans in attendance enjoy this situation, which hurts all other parties involved.
“This is not something that is anyone’s responsibility, either the national team coach, or myself, and of course the players.
This is a situation that doesn’t satisfy anyone, other than the fans of Crete. We can’t really prepare any game properly and there’s always a risk of injury,” the “Reds” coach said.
“It’s bad that the national team plays without the best players,” Obradovic said on Thursday. “This is obvious. Everybody will say the same. They need to sit and discuss this.”
With FIBA and EuroLeague not willing to work on finding a solution, the most likely scenario is that the national teams will keep competing in the Qualifiers without their best players being available, which could increase the risk of getting eliminated from big-time tournaments, like the Basketball World Cup and the EuroBasket.
