LJUBLJANA (EuroBasket 2015) - Slovenia coach Jure Zdovc announced a list of 11 players on Tuesday that is to make up the core of his team at EuroBasket 2015, leaving out superstar Goran Dragic, at least for the time being.

The elder of the Dragic brothers and his wife are expecting a child in August, only days before the start of the competition.

"Goran Dragic has the desire to play at EuroBasket 2015 but due to urgent family commitments there is a possibility that he doesn't make it," the Slovenian Basketball Federation (KZS) wrote in a statement.

"Should he succeed (in resolving these pending issues), he will immediately report any change and join the national team."

In addition to the Miami Heat point guard wanting to be with his family at such a special moment, Dragic, who turned 29 in May, will be a free agent from 1 July.

The superstar, who asked the Phoenix Suns to be traded to Miami Heat in February, concluded his seventh season in the NBA in fantastic form.

In his first 52 games in the campaign, while still in Phoenix, Dragic averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists despite the fact he had to play out of position during long stretches as the Suns tried to also accommodate fellow point guards Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas in the same line-up.

After moving to the Eastern Conference, the Slovenian playmaker contributed 16.6ppg and 5.3apg per game to the Heat, but Miami lost Chris Bosh to illness only days after Dragic joined the team and they eventually missed out on a play-off spot.

Goran has led national team's offense in recent tournaments.

Last year, he averaged 16ppg and 4.3apg at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, where Slovenia finished seventh.

Zdovc is able to count on Zoran Dragic, Goran's younger brother and team-mate on the Miami Heat, who headlines the list.

Zoran averaged 12.9 points and four rebounds per game in Spain.

However, he received limited playing in his rookie NBA season as he first landed at the Suns and then followed Goran in the trade to Miami.

Two other members of the Slovenian backcourt at last September's World Cup, Edo Muric and Domen Lorbek, are not included in the squad.

The 24-year-old Muric, who plays for Partizan Belgrade, recently sustained an injury in the Serbian league play-offs, while Lorbek asked to take the summer off.

The squad features American Bryant Dunston, although the Olympiacos center has not yet concluded the process of acquiring Slovenian citizenship.

Prior to the start of preparations on 18 July, Zdovc is expected to add to his preliminary squad approximately five more players.

The late arrivals will come mainly from the squad that competes at the U20 European Championship 7-19 July and includes players like guard Aleksej Nikolic, who was already a member of the senior squad at the World Cup.

Slovenia will play their first warm-up game on 30 July, against New Zealand, and follow up with back-to-back friendlies on 3 and 4 August against Australia, always on home soil.

Zdovc's men are in Group C at EuroBasket 2015 and will travel to nearby Zagreb to face Georgia, the Netherlands, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Greece and Croatia.

Slovenia preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015: Jure Balazic, Jaka Blazic, Ziga Dimec, Zoran Dragic, Nebojsa Joksimovic, Bryant Dunston, Jaka Klobucar, Alen Omic, Klemen Prepelic, Uros Slokar and Gasper Vidmar.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for full coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA