LONDON (London 2012 Olympics) - Great Britain's leading players are pledging their commitment to the national team with the most important announcement in the country's basketball history set to be made in two months.

On the weekend of 12-13 March, FIBA will announce at their Central Board meeting in Lyon, France, if Britain's men's and women's teams will be granted automatic qualification for the 2012 London Olympic basketball tournaments.

If given a thumbs-up by FIBA, the British men would not require a top-two finish at the EuroBasket in Lithuania (31 August to September 18) and Tom Maher's women would not need to win their EuroBasket in Poland (18 June to 3 July). As it is, only the two best men’s and women’s team will qualify directly from the respective EuroBasket events for London.

Ben Gordon of the Detroit Pistons finally looks set to don the British jersey.

The London-born Gordon has been courted by the Brits the past two summers with the aim of having him in the line-up for a major competition.

He expects to be in the squad when Chris Finch's team plays at the EuroBasket for the second consecutive time.

If he plays, Gordon will be reunited with his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Luol Deng.

"Luol and I have spoken very positively about playing for GB," Gordon was quoted in a BBC story on Monday.

"It is something I am very excited about."

The commitment by Gordon hasn't gone unnoticed at FIBA.

“We are happy to see that the best GB players want to represent GB," said FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann.

"Their presence on the GB team would definitely give them a boost and would make them very competitive if they were to be granted a place at the 2012 Olympics.”

The Sudan-born Deng moved to London as a boy and lived there until he crossed the Atlantic as a teenager to further his education and play basketball.

He ended up at Duke University and played for Mike Krzyzewski, the current boss of Team USA, and turned professional after his freshman year.

Deng has been with the Chicago Bulls ever since.

As important as he is to Chicago, Deng is even more vital for Great Britain.

He helped them win promotion to Division A and then spearheaded their successful qualifying campaign for EuroBasket 2009 in Poland.

While injury prevented him from playing in Poland, Deng returned to the national team line-up again last summer and helped Britain top their qualifying group for EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who has also been in the NBA the past two seasons, and Deng were the key players in last year's team.

If Gordon, Deng and Mensah-Bonsu play, along with a host of other stars like Unicaja Malaga's Joel Freeland and Robert Archibald, Britain will be serious threats to go deep into this year's tournament in Lithuania.

That could be the birth of ‘British basketball’ and set a historic result with going as far as the medal round. The success at EuroBasket and eventually the London Olympics could create an ever lasting legacy for basketball in Great Britain.

"I can bring another offensive option to GB and can take the load off the team with my offensive ability," Gordon said.

"It is absolutely crucial to have players from the NBA in the GB set-up for London 2012.

"The more players we have with that level of experience, the greater our chances of success."

FIBA