Aleksej Pokusevski to skip Olympic qualifying tournament for Serbia

Pokusevski will join Nikola Jokic and Alen Smailagic as NBA players to skip the event for Serbia.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski will not play with Serbia during the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament this month in Belgrade, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

Serbian head coach Igor Kokoskov said Pokusevski opted to focus on training for next season instead of playing with the national team. In addition to Pokusevski, Denver Nuggets forward Nikola Jokic and Golden State Warriors forward Alen Smailagic will also skip the event.

The Serbian men’s basketball team will participate in the qualifying tournament from June 29 to July 4, along with the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Senegal. Each country will play three games before the top four teams advance to a tournament.

The winner will claim one of four remaining spots in the Tokyo Olympics.

Preliminary play in basketball in the Olympics, which will feature 12 teams spread across three groups, will begin July 25 and run through Aug. 2. The quarterfinals will start on Aug. 3 and consist of the top two teams in each group from the preliminary phase.

The semifinals will take place on Aug. 5 with the gold and bronze medal games on Aug. 7.

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Pokusevski, who was born in Belgrade, just wrapped up a strong rookie campaign with the Thunder. He averaged 8.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 45 games with his final 28 contests coming as a starter. He scored a career-high 29 points in the regular-season finale on May 16.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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