LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Before departing for Piraeus for the Greece pre-Olympic qualifier tournament, the Slovenian national team announced its final 12-man roster. Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic headlined the list of players included.

In addition to Doncic, Slovenia’s 12-man roster includes Vlatko Cancar, Ziga Dimec, Zoran Dragic, Gregor Hrovat, Edo Muric, Josh Nebo, Aleksej Nikolic, Klemen Prepelic, Leon Stergar, Luka Scuka, and Miha Cerkvenik.

Slovenia head coach Aleksander Sekulic conveyed confidence in the group ahead of facing Croatia in the team’s first matchup of the Group Phase. He is satisfied with the team’s preparation despite limited opportunities to work as a full team with Doncic beginning 5-on-5 practice only one day before Friday’s victory over Brazil.

“Everyone who is ready to compete and train for the common good for three weeks deserves a place in the national team, but unfortunately, there is only room for twelve basketball players in the team,” Sekulic said. “We have had excellent preparations, maybe we missed a few days of training, but I think they have the other national teams also have similar problems. We have to get the most out of what we have, and I believe we succeeded.”

Sekulic discussed the challenges that Slovenia faces against Croatia, with NBA talents Ivica Zubac and Dario Saric, followed by a matchup with New Zealand. If the Slovenia advances to the championship game, it very well could result in a matchup against Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo playing in front of their home fans.

“We have a challenging group, in which Croatia has shown excellent performances in the last matches and which has justifiably high expectations, there is also New Zealand, and then probably Greece, whose power should not be wasted in front of the home fans,” Sekulic said. “But we are here to qualify for the Olympics for the second time in a row. We know it won’t be easy, we will do our best.”

Slovenia competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, later than initially scheduled due to COVID-19. The team lost 90-89 against France, which placed Slovenia in the Bronze medal game before ultimately losing against Australia. Last year, Slovenia finished seventh in the FIBA World Cup, the best in the program’s history.