As the league is in the driest part of their calendar, the Oklahoma City Thunder will have some viewing interest in August. The NBA champion will have a couple of players who hope to contribute to their home country in the 2025 EuroBasket.
It will be the 42nd edition of the EuroBasket championship. FIBA organizes the men’s basketball tournament. Ousmane Dieng was listed on France’s roster and Nikola Topic was listed on Serbia’s roster. It remains to be seen how large a role either plays, considering how stacked each roster is.
The 2025 EuroBasket will take place from Aug. 27 to Sept. 14. 24 teams will participate and be split into four groups. Once group play is over, 16 teams will advance to the knockout tournament. The reigning EuroBasket champion is Spain, which won it in 2022.
It’ll be a light roster for France as several headliners will sit out due to injuries. Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, Bilal Coulibaly, Guerschon Yabusele and Moussa Diabate join Dieng as the only NBA players on the initial 18-player extended roster. The 22-year-old has a chance to play real minutes, looking at their roster.
Meanwhile, Serbia enters with a stacked roster. Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Tristan Vukcevic and Nikola Jovic join Topic as the only NBA players on the initial 18-player extended roster. It’s tough to see the 19-year-old get much playing time considering this.
It’s always fun to see Thunder players suit up for their home country in international play. That’s happened the last two summers with the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. Now, Topic and Dieng could keep OKC fans busy in what is otherwise the slowest month of the year.