A major international basketball tournament will occur this summer, as the 2023 FIBA World Cup runs from Aug. 25 until Sept. 10. These events tend to have plenty of NBA players suiting up for their national teams, and for Greece, their hopes of making some noise largely revolve around the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo plays for them.
While the Greeks have plenty of seasoned pros and have rose to ninth place in the most recent FIBA rankings, Antetokounmpo is clearly their best player. Unfortunately for Greece, Antetokounmpo’s availability to participate this time around is up in the air, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the former NBA MVP underwent “a cleanup procedure on his knee,” and as a result, it’s unclear if he’ll be able to give it a go.
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo underwent a cleanup procedure on his knee two weeks ago and is uncertain for Greece’s FIBA World Cup play this summer, sources confirm.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 5, 2023
Greece is in Group C, which features the United States, Jordan, and New Zealand. While the Americans are unsurprisingly the favorites to make it out of the group, New Zealand is 26th and Jordan is 33rd in the most recent FIBA rankings, and neither would be pushovers without Antetokounmpo in the fold. Greece’s first game in group play will take place on August 26 against Jordan.
It’s unclear which knee required the procedure, but Antetokounmpo did suffer injuries this year to both his left and right knees.
