The Chicago Bulls will not play their first preseason game until October 4th, but Marko Simonovic representing Montenegro, and Goran Dragic representing Slovenia, will be in action during the 2022 EuroBasket tournament starting next month. EuroBasket 2022 will include superstars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic. Dragic and Simonovic have recently played in World Cup European Qualifiers and preparation games. Bulls center Nikola Vucevic will not play for his home country of Montenegro.
FIBA EuroBasket Information
Formally known as the European Basketball Championship, FIBA EuroBasket 2022 will start with the group stage on September 1st. The Championship game will be on September 18th. Host countries include the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, and Italy. How can you watch these games? Games will be available on FIBA’s official streaming site, livebasketball.tv.
Goran Dragic (Slovenia)
The most recent Bulls free agent signing, Goran Dragic will join Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic on the court, presenting their home country of Slovenia. According to DraftKings sports, Slovenia is tied with France for the third-best odds to win the EuroBasket 2022 Championship at +400. Slovenia will start the group stage games on September 1st with a matchup against Lithuania at 10:15 CT. Lithuania and France will be their most formidable opponents in Group A. Slovenia have looked good throughout August, including their 97-92 OT win on August 17th against Nikola Jokic and Serbia.
Dragic with team Slovenia during EuroBasket 2025 qualification games has played well, averaging 14.5 points, 2.3 assists, and 2.0 rebounds in four preparation games. In the Word Cup Qualifier game, Dragic got 19 points and six assists in a 104-83 win over Estonia last Thursday. But his best performance this summer was in a 104-103 win against Turkey when he got 28 points and five rebounds, shooting 9-for-15 from the field. Since suffering a non-serious knee injury against Serbia on August 17th, Dragic has averaged 17 minutes per game but scored double-digit points and shot above 70% from the field in both games. Slovenia will play one more World Cup Qualifier game on Sunday before starting the EuroBasket tournament on September 1st.
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Marko Simonovic (Montenegro)
Unfortunately, Nikola Vucevic won’t play alongside Marko Simonovic, but at least there’s another Bulls player to watch. Simonovic has been busy summer with the Summer League last month and now with FIBA EuroBasket. Montenegro is in the middle of the pack, but don’t expect them to win the tournament. Currently, Montenegro has +5000 odds on DraftKings to win the Championship. Montenegro will participate in Group C, and their toughest opponent during group play will be Spain. In their preparation games, they were 1-2 with their only win against the Netherlands, 76-67, on August 5th. The losses came against the favorites of Slovenia (70-52) and Serbia (82-73). Simonovic didn’t play in the preparation games.
Simonovic joined Montenegro when they played in a World Cup Qualifier game last Wednesday against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The big man had 6 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes in a 88-69 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Montenegro will play their last World Cup Qualifier game today (August 27th) before EuroBasket starts against Rudy Gobert and France. Simonovic will most likely come off the bench during EuroBasket. Montenegro will play their first 2022 EuroBasket game on September 1st against Turkey.
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