Doncic, Dragic set to headline Slovenia's EuroBasket title defense

LJUBLJANA (Slovenia) - Reigning FIBA EuroBasket champions Slovenia have named a preliminary squad of 20 players for their title defense in September.

Luka Doncic headlines the roster having elevated his superstar status since the last edition five years ago in which Goran Dragic was MVP. The 30-year-old came out of retirement for the recent FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers and could be set for another swan-song.

Selektor #mojtim, @SasoSekulic, je razkril seznam kandidatov za @EuroBasket 💪! Fante boš lahko spremljal že na prvem pripravljalnem turnirju, ki bo med 4. in 6. avgustom v Celju, vstopnice pa so že na voljo na Eventim in Petrol prodajnih mestih. Več👇
🔗 https://t.co/3avY0J9fLA pic.twitter.com/FJHJNghBZQ
— Košarkarska zveza SIovenije (@kzs_si) July 20, 2022

Vlatko Cancar is also set to return to the national team alongside the experienced core of Jaka Blazic, Edo Muric, Aleksej Nikolic, Klemen Prepelic and Ziga Dimec, who were all part of the 2017 title-winning squad.

"I believe that after the tiring seasons and the last national team activity, we managed to rest a bit and we will all start preparations for a very specific basketball summer together, full of new momentum," said Slovenia's head coach Aleksander Sekulic.

"Right before the EuroBasket, we have two more qualifying games for the World Cup, so we will have to plan and set up our form wisely."

Slovenia have also looked to the future with a trio of players included that are currently playing at the FIBA U20 European Championship with Sasa Ciani, Robert Jurkovic and Luka Scuka earning opportunities to impress in the upcoming training camp.

Slovenia's 20-player squad for EuroBasket
Jaka Blazic	Sasa Ciani	Vlatko Cancar	Jakob Cebasek	Ziga Dimec
Luka Doncic	Goran Dragic	Zoran Dragic	Gregor Glas	Gregor Hrovat
Robert Jurkovic	Jurij Macura	Edo Muric	Aleksej Nikolic	Bine Prepelic
Klemen Prepelic	Luka Rupnik	Ziga Samar	Luka Scuka	Mike Tobey

Slovenia's EuroBasket title defense will begin on September 1, 2022 against Lithuania in Cologne before also facing France, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Group B hosts Germany.

They will make an earlier trip to Germany for the August window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers after hosting Sweden in their Second Round opener.

FIBA