MIES (Switzerland) - The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 were as intense as you would expect across all of the four sites in Piraeus, Riga, San Juan, and Valencia.
A big part of all of that excitement was the excellent play of the stars that lined up top-notch performances for their national teams from start to finish.
Check out the highlights from the entire OQTs of some of the best performancers in the competition.
Giannis Antetokuonmpo returned to action for Greece in their successful home OQT stand. He'd end up averaging 22.7 points on 62.5 percent shooting to go with 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 asissts per game, bagging the TISSOT MVP award as well.
Luka Doncic also had a masterful performance throughout the OQTs which only came to and end when Slovenia lost to Greece in Semi-Finals. Doncic finished among the top 2 in points, rebounds, and assists in OQT Greece with 27.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per contest.
Jose Alvarado led Puerto Rico to a memorable home stand, getting the proud Americas team back to the Olympics for the first time in a long time. He scored 16.0 points to go with 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game on his way to winning TISSOT MVP in San Juan.
His father played in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Now, Santi Aldama will be an Olympian as well after leading Spain through the OQT in Valencia to clinch a spot in Paris. The TISSOT MVP of OQT Spain averaged 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
Bruno Caboclo was the TISSOT MVP in OQT Latvia and helped Brazil become the only "visiting" national teams to win an OQT this year. He averaged 17.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game.
Ivica Zubac set the single-game record for EFF in the a modern era OQT in Greece. Even though Croatia fell short, Zubac made sure that his 22.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game gave them the best shot to win it all.
Deandre Ayton led an inspiring Bahamas team to the Final in OQT Spain and even if they didn't win it all, they will certainly be remembered and highly-regarded in the future. Teams will not soon forget Domin-Ayton's 19.5 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.
Buddy Hield's run as captain of this Bahamas team was memorable as well, as he lit up the competition with 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while also tying the record for most three-pointers made in a single OQT in the modern era with 15.
If we're talking about inspiring runs, who can forget the Philippines who beat Latvia and made an unexpected trip to the Semi-Finals! Justin Brownlee looked like the Filipino version of Michael Jordan for a moment, averaging 23.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per contest.
Another star that made a return to the national team other than Giannis was Poland's Jeremy Sochan. He and the team dropped out in the Group Phase with a loss to the eventual champions Spain, but not before Sochan put up 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
Chris Duarte shouldered a lot of the heavy load for the Dominican Republic as they made it to the Semi-Finals with him averaging 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
It was another heartbreaking run in the OQTs once again for Lithuania and Domantas Sabonis, but you know that the big man gave it his all. He averaged 12.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
FIBA