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EuroBasket 2022 started with 24 teams. There are 16 of them remaining. Each team played five games in the first week. With the top four teams advancing to the knockout stage, they are four wins away from becoming European champions.
Will Luka Doncic lead Slovenia to another gold medal? Who can stop Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic from helping their teams reach a group stage record? Will France field the most NBA players in the tournament?
One thing is clear, EuroBasket 2022 has no shortage of star power. Doncic, Antetokounmpo, and Jokic are one of the best players in the world, and the rest of his NBA players are making noise. With that in mind, we offer a ranking of the top 10 players remaining in EuroBasket 2022.
10. Evan Fournier, France
Fournier is a different player when representing his country. While playing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, he led France with 18.7 points per game and led Les Bleus to a silver medal.
He has struggled a bit in EuroBasket 2022, shooting 38.2% from the field. France is on a tough road to the final. They may have to play against Serbia and Slovenia. So you must find Fournier, find your rhythm, and take your chances.
9. Bojan Bogdanovic, Croatia
Bogdanovic is a silky-smooth shooter who can create his shots off the dribble, making scoring easy. He has averaged 18.3 points per game in NBA over the last four seasons. Much the same at EuroBasket 2022 (18.4), despite a difficult game against Estonia, finished on four points.
Bogdanovic’s future in Utah is in doubt, but he’ll be a professional scorer regardless of which team he ends up with.
8. Lauri Markkanen, Finland
Only two players scored more points than Markkanen in the group matches of EuroBasket 2022, one of which was a guy named Luka Doncic. The 7-footer already had two games in which he scored 30 points, including an 18-minute sequence during which he scored 22 points. Markkanen’s strong play bodes well for the Jazz, who landed him on a blockbuster deal that saw Donovan Mitchell join the Cavaliers.
7. Franz Wagner, Germany
Ranked 8th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Wagner was a standout player in his rookie season with the Magic. He averaged the fourth-most points (15.2), tenth-most rebounds (4.5), and eighth-most assists (2.9) among draftees while playing better defense.
Wagner followed that up with his solid performance at EuroBasket 2022 with a phenomenal performance in Germany’s double overtime win against Lithuania, scoring 32 points.
Wagner is just a few weeks away from his 21st birthday. His potential bodes well for the future of Germany and Orlando.
6. Jonas Valanciunas, Lithuania
Valanciunas has quietly evolved into one of the best centers in the NBA. He has limits, but he’s a great scorer, raw rebounder, decent passer, and a growing shooter. He averaged a career-best 2.1 3-point attempts per game with a success rate of 36.1%.
5. Domantas Sabonis, Lithuania
Since joining the NBA, few players have improved as much as Sabonis. The guy has become a walking double-double machine. Over the past three seasons, he has averaged 19.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game, which earned him two All-Star honors.
Sabonis and Valanciunas from Lithuania’s center front, and he and De’Aaron Fox are looking to end the longest playoff drought in NBA history this season with a one-two.
4. Rudy Gobert, France
Many like to point out Gobert’s inadequacies, but he’s one of the most dominant guards in the history of the NBA, and he’s won Defensive Player of the Year three times. Nothing is easy around the basket against him, and he uses his long arms to soak up rebounds from both ends of the court.
Sure, Gobert may not be someone to clear the floor or post, but his screenings, rolling, and cutting are incredibly rewarding.
3. Luka Doncic, Slovenia
Doncic’s EuroBasket 2022 start has been relatively slow by his superhuman standards, but he is recovering strongly. After scoring 36 points against Germany, he scored 47 points against France.
Sounds like a lot, right? This is the second highest-scoring performance in EuroBasket history, after Belgian Eddie Terrasse in 1957, where he scored 63 points. If Doncic starts a step back, there’s not much you can do.
Doncic already has three All-Star Nominations and three All-NBA First Teams in four seasons, ending the season that led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals. It is scary how good Doncic is and how good he may become.
2. Nikola Jokic, Serbia
NBA’s back-to-back MVP.
Jokic enters the season at 27 and already looks like one of the all-time great centers. His vision is second to none, making him one of the top scorers in the league. In addition to intimidating defenders at the post, he can stretch the floor like a point guard.
It should come as no surprise that Jokic dominated his EuroBasket. He averaged 19.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.8 steals in 24.3 minutes per game in group stages. Oh, and he’s had a ridiculous 74.5% of his 2-point field goals. Jokić, who easily tears through defenses, can feel like a cheat code.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece
There is currently no player in the world capable of creating Antetokounmpo influence on both sides of the pitch. Offensively speaking, Antetokounmpo is an unstoppable force capable of stepping and crashing absolutely anyone. He can defend any position on defense, and his long limbs make all other players in the world dream of him.