Philadelphia 76ers rookie Filip Petrusev was among 20 players named to Serbia’s preliminary roster for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines.
Petrusev, who was born in Belgrade, has appeared with the senior team three times after debuting in 2021. He most recently played in the FIBA Basketball World Cup European qualifiers, averaging 7.8 points, four rebounds and 1.5 assists in four games.
The 50th pick in 2021 signed a two-year contract with the 76ers this month after playing the past two seasons overseas. He helped lead Crvena zvezda to the Serbian League title last season after averaging 11 points and 4.9 rebounds on 57.3% shooting from the field.
Spisak kandidata za reprezentaciju 🇷🇸 Srbije na @FIBAWC#FIBAWC #KSS #WinForSrbija pic.twitter.com/3eCsRYAHG3
— KoÅ¡arkaÅ¡ki savez SRB (@KSSrbije) July 24, 2023
The FIBA Basketball World Cup will begin on Aug. 25 and also take place in Japan and Indonesia. Serbia will open against China in Group B on Aug. 26 and then face Puerto Rico on Aug. 28 and South Sudan on Aug. 30 in the group phase.
To prepare for the event, the Serbians will play several exhibition games starting with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Montenegro. They will face Greece (Aug. 8) and Italy (Aug. 9) in the Acropolis Cup before playing Puerto Rico (Aug. 16), China (Aug. 20) and Brazil (Aug. 21).
The team will eventually need to pare its roster to 12 players.
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