In the 2022 European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2022), the countries that included the important names in the top 5 of the season in the American Basketball League (NBA) and were shown as the favorites in the championship did not even see the semi-finals.
Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the biggest favorites of the championship, and Slovenia with Luka Doncic in the quarter-finals, Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic, surprisingly bowed to their opponents in the last 16 rounds.
Serbia, played by Jokic, who was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the last two regular seasons in the NBA, easily won the group games and moved up to the last 16.
The Serbians, which have important names such as the MVP of the Europa League, Vasilije Micic, Nikola Kalinic, Nikola Milutinov, Mark Guduric, as well as Jokic, lost to Italy in the last 16 and left the tournament, where they were the favorites for the gold medal, without even seeing the quarter-finals.
Despite their names such as Tyler Dorsey, Nick Calathes and Kostas Sloukas in Greece, where Antetokounmpo took part, they could not pass the quarter-finals. Losing 107-96 to host Germany, Greece finished the organization early, hoping for a gold medal.
One of the biggest surprises of the tournament was Poland. Led by NBA star Luka Doncic, Slovenia lost to Poland in the quarterfinals and did not even get a medal in the organization where it came with the title of champions.
In the last season in the NBA, Jokic, Doncic and Antetokounmpo were in the top 5 of the season.