With one day remaining before the start of the FIBA World Cup 2023, most of the teams have finalized their roster with several EuroLeague and NBA stars taking the center stage of the tournament.
With that said, today we are focusing on three players who are expected to debut in the 2023-24 EuroLeague season and could be an integral part of their national team’s potential success in the FIBA World Cup 2023.
Raul Neto – Brazil
After spending many years in the NBA as a reliable backup point guard, Raul Neto made the jump to the EuroLeague powerhouse Fenerbahce. Neto will likely be the starting point guard of the Brazilian NT in the tournament after spending the past season as the back-up point guard of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Neto’s experience in the NBA will help Brazil, a team that will meet European champions Spain in the preliminary face of the FIBA World Cup.
The Brazilian national team will face Iran, Spain, and Ivory Coast in Group G in their efforts to advance to the second round of the FIBA tournament having a mix of young and veteran players. Brazil will hope to make some noise with Neto as the main creator. The former Cavaliers guard averaged a credible 11.2 points (3.2 ppg per 10 min.) per 36 minutes the past season having an active role in the Cavs’ backup unit.
With the Brazilians searching for a deep run in the tournament after finishing 13th in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Neto’s efforts will play an important role to achieve their goals.
Juancho Hernangomez – Spain
We could include both Hernagomez brothers in this list, however we choose Juancho Hernagomez over his brother as he could be in to make a strong impression in the FIBA World Cup 2023. Hernangomez returned to Europe after a journeyman career in the NBA and signed a lucrative two-year 4.500.000 million deal with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos.
Spain enters the tournament as one of the favorites to win it all, and Hernagomez shooting ability will play a huge role. The versatile forward took a backseat (kind of) in Spain’s last year gold medal run in EuroBasket behind his brother Willy who was named the MVP of the tournament.
However, with him expected to have more of scoring role in his new team, Juancho could be among the top performers in this FIBA World Cup 2023 before joining Panathinaikos for his EuroLeague debut.
Nikos Rogkavopoulos – Greece
Greek NT is entering the tournament with an outside chance to make the top-8 of the FIBA World Cup 2003. The Giannis-less squad will have to put the hopes in some newcomers and younger players in order to succeed, as the team is also missing veteran star guards Kostas Sloukas and Nick Calathes.
With that said, a new hope arises for Greek basketball in Nikos Rogkavopoulos. Rogkavopoulos will make his debut in the EuroLeague after signing with Spanish giants Baskonia the past summer. “Rogka” spent the past two seasons improving and adding to his talent, and the FIBA World Cup 2023 will be his chance to show those improvements in the bigger stage.
Spending the past year in Turkey playing for Merkezefendi, the Greek forward was named the 2003 Best Young Player of the league and helped his team remain in the top tier of the Turkish Basketball stage. In a sense, Greek NT will need Rogkavopoulos to exceed expectations for them to even make it out of the Top-16 this summer.
