The men's basketball Olympic qualifying group is released, and Brother Alphabet leads Greece and Doncic to compete for qualification?
On November 28, Beijing time, the draw for the men's basketball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics was released. Greece and Slovenia are in the Piraeus region of Greece, and the two powerhouses will compete for the only Olympic qualification in the region.
The specific groupings are-
Valencia Division, Spain: Group A – Spain (host), Angola, Lebanon, Group B – Poland, Finland, Bahamas
Riga Zone, Latvia: Group A – Latvia (host), Georgia, Philippines, Group B – Brazil, Cameroon, Montenegro
Piraeus, Greece: Group A – Slovenia, New Zealand, Croatia, Group B – Greece (host), Dominica, Egypt
Puerto Rico St. John's Division: Group A – Lithuania, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Group B – Puerto Rico (host), Bahrain, Italy
According to the rules for the Olympic Qualifiers, there is only one Olympic qualification from each region.
The two groups in each region will play a round-robin PK match in the group at the same time, and the top two teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals, and the third place will be eliminated directly. The semi-finals are the group crossover stage, also known as A1VSB2 and A2VSB1, and the two teams that advance to the semi-finals meet in the finals to determine the final winner.
Looking at the four divisions, the most competitive will be the Piraeus division in Greece. Hosts Greece will be the favourites to top Group B, with Slovenia in Group A in a unique bracket. After missing this summer's World Cup due to injury, Greece's new head coach and team legend Spanoulis said he had made contact with him, and he was eager to play for Greece. In the home game next year, Brother Alphabet will play unexpectedly. As for Slovenia, Doncic has led the team to the tournament this summer, but failed to qualify for the Olympics. If he continues to compete next year, he and his brother will be expected to compete in the Olympic qualifiers.
As for Group A, hosts Spain look to have a good chance of qualifying for the Olympics, but it will all depend on what kind of squad the Bahamas can field. This summer, NBA players Eric Gordon, Ayton and Hield all represented the Bahamas in the qualifiers for the Olympic Qualifiers, and finally qualified for the Olympic Qualifiers in the Americas. With FIBA ignoring naturalization rules and allowing a number of NBA players to join the Bahamas team directly, and the Bahamas also plan to bring in other NBA players such as Klay Thompson, the Bahamas will also be a serious rival for Spain to qualify for the Olympics.
The host country, France, and the other seven teams that will be decided for the 2023 Basketball World Cup (Germany and Serbia in Europe, Canada and the United States in the Americas, Australia in Oceania, South Sudan in Africa, and Japan in Asia) have all qualified for Paris 2024. Since there are only 12 quota places for the men's basketball team at the Olympic Games, the remaining four places will be decided through the Olympic qualifying tournament.