DALLAS — Are you sad the NBA season is over? Wishing you could see your favorite Dallas Mavericks players play again? Well, you're in luck.
The Paris 2024 Olympics are rapidly approaching and athletes across the world are trying to qualify, so they can represent their country in the global competition.
Among those athletes, Mavs' Luka Doncic is hoping to lead his home country Slovenia through the qualifying tournaments and grant them a spot in the Olympics.
How many countries qualify for the Olympics in basketball?
For the men's tournament, there will be 12 countries who compete for medals in Paris. And so far, the following eight teams have already qualified:
- Australia
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Japan
- Serbia
- South Sudan
- United States
France, being the hosting country of the Olympics, earned an automatic spot in the tournament. The other seven teams qualified through their performance at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The final four spots will be filled by the winners of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.
How do the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments work?
Each tournament consists of six teams, which are split into two groups: Group A and Group B.
The tournament will start with a group phase, meaning each team in the group will play each other and receive points based on the outcome.
At the conclusion of the group phase, the top two teams with the most points in each group will move on to the final phase of the tournament, which consists of two semi-final games and a final game.
The winner of the final game will secure their spot in Paris for the Olympics in July.
When does Luka and Slovenia play?
Doncic and Slovenia's national team will be playing in the Greece Qualifying Tournament, facing Croatia and New Zealand first in Group A.
Here's Slovenia's full group phase schedule:
- Slovenia vs. Croatia | Tuesday, July 2 at 1 p.m.
- Slovenia vs. New Zealand | Thursday, July 4 at 9:30 a.m.
Both semi-final games will be played on Saturday, July 6 and the Final will be the following day on Sunday, July 7.
How to watch Slovenia play in the qualifying tournament
The tournaments won't be nationally televised. However, you can still watch every game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament online at Courtside 1891.
The website does prompt viewers to log in with their Max accounts, which also allows users access to full game replays and highlights of every game.
For additional viewing information, visit here.
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