VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Don't tell me you weren't happy for Goran Dragic on the night of September 17, 2017, in Istanbul when he lifted the FIBA EuroBasket trophy for the first time.

That moment was long overdue.

He'd just missed out on reaching the podium at EuroBasket 2009 after defeats in the final seconds to Serbia in the Semi-Finals and Greece in the Third-Place Game. After capturing the crown in Istanbul, Dragic, at the age of 31 and more than a decade since making his Slovenia bow, retired from the national team. 

There will be a compelling reason for him to have a rethink this summer and come out of his national team retirement. It's called the Olympics.

Dragic is still fit and playing at a high level for the Miami Heat, and he's got a chance to do something that many athletes dream of. And he should do this, most importantly, for himself, so he won't ever have to ask, "What if I had played at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Kaunas?"

If Dragic and Luka Doncic play for Slovenia, they'd have just as good a chance, if not better, than any team of winning that OQT.

In Group A are Lithuania, Korea and Venezuela, while in Group B with Slovenia are Poland and Angola.

Dragic and Doncic would make Slovenia the team to beat at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Kaunas

Remember in 2008 when Dirk Nowitzki, the NBA's 2007 MVP, played at the OQT in Athens and led Germany to one of the three qualifying spots for the Beijing Games? Remember how special it was for Nowitzki, not only qualifying but also carrying the flag for Germany in the opening ceremony?

Twelve years later and that could be Dragic.

If Slovenia do have Dragic and Doncic, and a great preparation, they'll still have a fight on their hands. Lithuania have played at every Olympics since 1992. They will have the home crowd behind them as well. The home court guarantees nothing, however, as Lithuania will remember. In 2011, they hosted the EuroBasket and lost in the final seconds of their Quarter-Final against North Macedonia.

In 2016, Italy had a star-laden team that hosted an OQT in Turin but lost to Croatia in the Final after overtime.

As for Poland, they impressed last year at the World Cup, reaching the Quarter-Finals, and will be ready.

So Lithuania and Poland, as I see it, will be the two biggest hurdles for Slovenia to clear to reach Tokyo.

Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993 after capturing three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls but decided to come back to the game three years later and won three more championships with the same team.

This is different, of course, because Dragic is still playing. It's all about doing something that he has yet to experience, which is to play at an Olympic Games.

My message to Dragic is this:

"Stay retired and you'll be remembered as one of the great European players of all time with a EuroBasket title, three World Cup appearances and more than a decade in the NBA. You'll have the sweet taste of having walked off the court for the last time with Slovenia as a winner. But to have a chance to reach the Olympics? I think it's an opportunity you shouldn't pass up."

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

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