MUNICH (Germany) - The countdown is on, as FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tips off in a matter of hours.
The reason why we're all here again is because most of the rosters are set now, while the friendly games are all over. That allows us to move teams up or down in the Smart Power Rankings, again.
#1 Serbia (0)
Instead of telling you once again how great these guys are, here's one for you, based on the debate we were having at lunch over here at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Smart Power Rankings Headquarters:
Has to be 2025, right? Right?
#2 Germany (0)
Losing David Kramer is tough, because the latest Real Madrid signing is one of those Kyle Korver, JJ Redick, Jaycee Carroll, Andreas Obst kind of guys, always moving and shifting the gravity center of the German offense.
Still, back-to-back wins over Spain keep them at #2 here. Must have been sweet for coach Alex Mumbru to get them against Sergio Scariolo, who was his coach when they won the FIBA EuroBasket in 2009.
#3 France (0)
One would assume France are in trouble because of all the absentees. One would be wrong.
France sent out a message, loud and clear, as they defeated Greece 92-77, with Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup, in Athens. In fact, these guys have forgotten how to lose: unbeaten in the Qualifiers, unbeaten this summer, this is what people mean when they say "building winning habits."
Mark your calendars, August 30 has them facing Luka Doncic's Slovenia in Katowice.
#4 Greece (+4)
Hey now! We told you we'd move Greece up as soon as we got to see Giannis in action, and it was everything we imagined, and more. The Greek Freak is looking as good as ever, ready to destroy everybody standing in his way.
But it's not just him. Greece had a massive 27-12 quarter against Italy, erasing a 10-point deficit with some fine shooting and stellar defense in a game which their superstar sat out.
They have not medaled at EuroBasket since 2009. Just saying.
#5 Lithuania (-1)
Power Rankings are rude.
Lithuania barely missed a beat all summer long, and then one narrow defeat to Türkiye in a friendly, and we bump them down one spot.
Anyway, keep an eye on their bigs shooting. Jonas Valanciunas and Azuolas Tubelis iced Iceland by shooting 5-of-5 from beyond the arc.
It's like the Dutch Total Football concept, but in basketball, because the guards can push you down and the bigs can spread you out. Total Basketball.
#6 Türkiye (+1)
So, here's why the Power Rankings include a feeling, instead of pure numbers. Türkiye went 3-2 in their preparation games this summer, which doesn't sound all that convincing.
But hey, those two defeats were to Lithuania and Germany, and both occured in their first two games, so coach Ergin Ataman's men are actually on a three-game winning streak ahead of the EuroBasket, including the aforementioned win over Lithuania, on the road in Vilnius no less.
Hey, don't forget about this guy when you're talking about potential MVPs:
#7 Latvia (-2)
So, here's why the Power Rankings include a feeling, instead of pure numbers. Latvia went 2-3 in their preparation games this summer, which doesn't sound all that bad considering they played Italy twice, Lithuania, Slovenia and Greece.
But hey, those three defeats saw them give up 304 points total, and in two of them they allowed 104+ points, so coach Luca Banchi's men actually have some defensive issues that need to be taken care of ahead of their matchups with Serbia, Türkiye, Portugal, Estonia and Czechia.
Hey, don't forget about this guy when you're talking about potential MVPs:
#8 Italy (-2)
Two defeats since we last talked here. Two spots down, simple as that.
On a bit more in-depth note, the first half against Greece was really something, they opened up a 10-point lead in Athens, with Simone Fontecchio cruising to 13 points before the break.
You never feel like he is forcing the issue, you don't even feel like he's having a mindblowing game and then you look at the numbers and think, "hey, don't forget about this guy when you're talking about potential MVPs."
#9 Finland (0)
How do you say perfect in Finnish? They were one of three teams with a 100 percent record this summer, alongside Serbia and France, and the only reason we don't have them higher up in the Power Rankings is because we only got to see them against Belgium and Poland.
Want us to continue the "hey, don't forget about this guy when you're talking about potential MVPs" theme? Fine.
Hey, don't forget about this guy when you're talking about potential MVPs - of FIBA EuroBasket 2029! What are they feeding these kids in Finland!?
#10 Spain (+1)
Weird to have a team that went 1-5 in six preparation games in the Top 10, right? Wrong. Because it's the reigning champions.
Two of those Spanish defeats were one-possession games, two more were by single digits, so when you think about it, they could've been 5-1 with a bit of luck. Or that familiar Spanish major event mentality when they always end up winning clutch games.
#11 Slovenia (-1)
Just a 1-5 record for Slovenia this summer, their sole win coming against Great Britain, and an abysmal 106-72 defeat to Serbia just before they packed their bags and travelled to Katowice.
You could say we should've pushed them lower because of that record and that defeat. You could also say we have them too low because they have Luka Doncic.
You would be right in both cases. This edition of Junaki is causing plenty of debates within our editorial team, too.
#12 Israel (0)
That's a long break between the last preparation game (against Montenegro, August 17) and the first EuroBasket game (against Iceland, August 28).
In the meantime, they announced their final roster, and it's looking like the strongest one they've had in a long time, with Deni Avdija being the obvious leader, guys like Yam Madar or Khadeen Carrington capable of winning games on their hot day, and plenty of tough role players with loads of international experience.
Feels like they are somewhere between Round of 16 and the Quarter-Finals right now. So yeah, exactly at 12.
#13 Montenegro (+1)
One spot up thanks to their win over Israel and 85 points scored against Türkiye in Istanbul.
It sounds crazy that these guys will be legit contenders for a spot in the Round of 16 when they won't have Bojan Dubljevic, Jovan Kljajic, Nikola Ivanovic, Petar Popovic, Nemanja Radovic, Dino Radoncic, Luka Bogavac, David Mirkovic and Andrija Grbovic.
Excited to see what Kyle Allman brings to this team!
#14 Estonia (-1)
We're kinda angry at you, Estonia. We were about to promote you a spot or two, but your horrid shooting night from beyond the arc against Great Britain pointed the boat in the other direction.
That's right. They shot 3-of-28 from three-point range against Team GB. And they lost Maik-Kalev Kotsar to injury, so these are some troubled times ahead of the short trip to Riga.
#15 Poland (0)
Nobody was as busy as the Polish co-hosts this summer, putting together eight friendly games. They won three of them, which is fine, but they were against three teams below them in the Power Rankings.
That's good for their Round of 16 ambitions, but bad for their hey-we-were-fourth-three-years-ago-we-should-do-it-again-sometimes ambitions.
Remember 2022? We remember 2022.
#16 Portugal (+1)
With Estonia losing Maik-Kalev Kotsar, and Czechia losing Tomas Satoransky, are we supposed to consider Portugal as "best of the rest" in Group A, behind Serbia, Türkiye and Latvia?
That's a wild thing to say considering Portugal last won a FIBA EuroBasket game in 2007.
But it's also not a wild thing to say at all, because if you watched them this summer, and if you followed them during the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers, and if you know their recent club results... that's a lot of ifs, but what we're saying is:
Portugal in the Round of 16 is not a wild notion, not one bit.
#17 Bosnia and Herzegovina (+1)
Yeah, good luck trying to figure out this team. They went 0-4 in their first four warm-up games, allowing 100+ points in back-to-back games against Serbia and Montenegro.
They lost Dzanan Musa to injury. They lost Xavier Castaneda to injury. We were ready to put them in the 20+ section of this piece.
But, BIH being BIH, they bounced back to win three straight games by 13 points or more. Good luck trying to figure them out, we said.
#18 Georgia (-2)
Putting them at 18 is generous because they are one of only two teams (Cyprus) without a win this summer.
But it's also a testament to their talent, everybody knows Tornike Shengelia could propel them to Round of 16 by himself if needed.
#19 Belgium (0)
One win over Great Britain, five defeats to Greece, Finland (twice) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (twice), plenty of question marks ahead of the event.
They get to keep their spot here, because we don't want to push them down as coach Dario Gjergja celebrated his 50th birthday just the other day, we're paying attention to stuff like that, and because even when their results don't look impressive, their videos do:
#20 Sweden (+1)
One win and four defeats so far this summer. But that one win occured way back on August 9, which feels like a century ago with all these games and news and roster changes all over the continent.
We moved them up one spot because when you scratch the surface just that tiny bit, you realize they were inches away from being 3-2 this summer, because they had three one-possession losses to Poland, Iceland and Estonia.
#21 Iceland (+1)
They couldn't do anything against Lithuania's frontcourt the other day, but there were some positives for Iceland, especially offensively, with six men finishing in double digits in that preparation game.
Getting their first EuroBasket win is not going to be an easy task, but don't be surprised if it happens by Iceland scoring 90 or more points instead of keeping the opponent under 70.
#22 Great Britain (+1)
One spot up after a solid defensive showing in Estonia, holding the hosts to 62 points on the day.
Do that over the next two weeks and we could witness their first EuroBasket win since 2013, when Andrew Lawrence put up 23 points and Myles Hesson pulled down 11 rebounds to stun Germany in Ljubljana.
Myles is still here, btw, 12 years later. Longevity matters.
#23 Czechia (-1)
No Tomas Satoransky and life is not fair and we don't want to talk about it because they are arguably the most unlucky team of the last two FIBA EuroBasket tournaments combined and it's heartbreaking because they don't deserve it and we're not talking about it life is not fair.
#24 Cyprus (0)
The idea is the same each time we're putting the Power Rankings together and Cyprus comes up. It's all about the learning experience, because their two friendly games were far from perfect this summer.
Anything they do in the main event will go down in history, because this is their first time playing the biggest continental championship.
Note:The Power Rankings are entirely subjective and is in no way a true, accurate ranking system. All comments are purely those of the author.