Greece announce World Cup preliminary squad with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo

ATHENS (Greece) - Fans can remain hopeful that two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo will be in the Philippines at the FIBA Basketball World Cup after he was named in an 22-man squad for the event that tips off in just over a month.

Greece will face the USA, New Zealand and Jordan in Group C, in Manila.

Antetokounmpo, who featured at the last two World Cups, had his best performance for Greece last summer at FIBA EuroBasket 2022,  averaging a tournament-best 29.3 points per game. He had 41 in a Group Phase victory over Ukraine.

Greece have listed Thomas Walkup who  has shone in Europe the past several seasons. The 1.93m (6’4”) point guard made a big splash with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in 2017-18 in Germany and the Basketball Champions League and has since played for Zalgiris and more recently, Olimpiacos.

In addition to veterans Kostas Papanikolaou and Ioannis Papapetrou, Greece have Giannoulis Larentzakis, and some players that took center stage in their amazing overtime win against Serbia in the European Qualifiers.

They are Nikos Rogkavopoulos and Dimitris Moraitis. Another player in that February 24 game that did well for AEK in the Basketball Champions League this season, Dimitris Flionis, is included.

Other notable inclusions are Georgios Papagiannis, who just left Panathinaikos to play for Itoudis at Fenerbahce in Turkey, as well as Antetokounmpo's brothers, Thanasis and Kostas.

Two of Greece's leading players in their FIBA U20 European Championship third-place team this summer, Vangelis Zougris and Lefteris Mantzoukas, are also in the list.

FIBA