Vincent Collet has unveiled the list of 17 players who will prepare for the German Euro. Among them, NBA stars Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, but also the great hope of French basketball Victor Wembanyama.
No more international windows with double teams, it’s time for serious things! Qualified for the last elimination phase of the 2023 World Cup, which will begin at the end of August, the French men’s basketball team is already turned towards the German Euro, which will begin on September 1 with a match against the host country, and of which she will be the big favourite, a year after winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. And even if coach Vincent Collet will be deprived for this Euro of Nicolas Batum and Nando De Colo, who have decided to rest this summer to arrive fresher at the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics, his group of 17 players selected for the preparation of the Euro looks very good. The Metropolitans coach will already be able to count on five NBA players: Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert (who wants to play with the Blues despite his transfer to Minnesota), Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Théo Maledon (excellent in the last two games, for his back in blue) and Frank Ntilikina. The coach will also be able to rely on major players from major European clubs, such as Moustapha Fall, Thomas Heurtel, Vincent Poirier or Guerschon Yabusele, but also the stars of Betclic Elite such as William Howard or Elie Okobo. On the other hand, the leader (or rear) of Real Madrid Fabien Causeur, who had left the door open to a return to blue for the first time since 2018, does not appear in the group.
Six preparation matches before the Euro
But Vincent Collet has also decided to call into his group a player who has no selection and who is only 18 years old: Victor Wembanyama. The strong winger, who recently left ASVEL for Boulogne-Levallois (precisely to work with Collet) is the prodigy of French basketball and is announced very high in the 2023 NBA draft (even n°1?). If he passes the cut and appears in the final group of 12 players who will play the Euro, the native of Chesnay could thus continue his flight, he who has already played a Euro U16 in 2019 and a World Cup U19 in 2021 with the blueberries. The 17 players selected for the preparation are summoned on July 29 for medical tests, then six matches will be on the menu by the start of the Euro. A Euro where France will face in the group stage, in addition to Germany, Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The first four of the group will qualify for the round of 16.
The list of 17 players who will prepare for the Euro: Andrew Albicy, Isaïa Cordinier, Moustapha Fall, Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert, Thomas Heurtel, William Howard, Mouhammadou Jaiteh, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Théo Maledon, Amath M’Baye, Frank Ntilikina, Elie Okobo, Vincent Poirier, Terry Tarpey, Victor Wembanyama, Guerschon Yabusele
