Who can win the championship with the stars

"European Travel" is an American comedy movie released in 2004. Now, the 2025 European Cup of Men's Basketball Team has started, which star dares to call "Europe's Renimai"? This European Cup is led by Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic, with a total of 23 NBA players appearing, which can be said to be the most star-flavored in European basketball history. However, comprehensive analysis, I am afraid that "asking a teacher" is the most qualified to shout this slogan.

Reporter Feng Zihan reported that Serbia has become a hot topic

Jokic welcomes the first championship opportunity

I want to say that the biggest favorite to win this tournament is the Serbian team. Serbia has always been a strong team in the world basketball world. At the Paris Olympics, they suppressed the "Janduku" and the American team, which had all the elites, for three and a half minutes. If Curry had not had the final outbreak to help the US men's basketball team turn the tables, it would be hard to say who would win.

The Serbian team participating in this European Cup is led by NBA champion and three-time MVP winner Jokic. There are four NBA active players, Jovic, Bogdanovic, Topic and Tristan Vukcevic. The lineup is luxurious.

How is Serbia's "Galaxy Battleship"-like configuration? The answer has been given: No defeat in 7 games, including defeating the World Cup champions Germany and Slovenia led by Doncic. Jovic, who has been in good shape recently, said: "The team's lineup has remained generally stable in the past three or four years, so logically it should be better every year. The current team looks better than the Olympics."

There is no doubt that the Serbian team came for the championship.

Judging from the large list they announced, there are both veterans and fresh blood, taking into account the thickness and impact of the lineup. Among them, 5 people were exactly 30 years old and were in their year of fighting. In addition to Jokic, substitute center Milutinov, point guards Aframovic, Michecchi and Gudridge are also 30 years old. The two attackers on the defender and the front line are Bogdanovic and Jovic, who are both experienced and energetic.

It is worth mentioning that Jokic was once a big shot in the NBA, but at the national team level, he has never scored a gold medal. In 2013, he led the Serbian U19 Men's Basketball Team to win the runner-up in the U19 Men's Basketball World Youth Championship, won the runner-up in the Rio Olympics with the team in 2016, and won the third place in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Jokic won these three medals in international competitions in his career, and did not win in the World Cup or European Cup.

Serbia has also not stood on the highest podium for a long time. After the "Japan Yugoslavia" withdrew from the historical stage in 2002, although they have always maintained strong competitiveness, they are always one step away from the gold medal.

This time, Serbia, which has collected the strongest list of 12 people, has ushered in the best opportunity to reach the top of Europe.

The heroes are around

Who will challenge Serbia

Like European football, European basketball has an average overall level. Although Serbia is slightly better, the challengers are not very different.

The German team is the World Cup champion, so there is no need to say more about its strength. Although the French team does not have stars such as Vinbanyama and Gobert, they have this year's NBA draft No. 1 pick Rissache and second-place Sal; the Israel team has two NBA active players, Danny Avdia and Salav; the Polish team has Milicic and eliminated Slovenia in the last European Championship; the Belgian men's basketball team once defeated Spain in the warm-up match and was also a dark horse.

In addition, Greece led by Antetokounmpo, Spain led by El Nagomez, and Slovenia led by Lakers' core Doncic, also have good combat power. Serbia's goal for the championship is not smooth sailing.

Letter family leads

Multiple teams staged "Brothers Company"

As the saying goes, brothers fight with tigers, father and son fight, "Greek Monster" Antetokounmpo takes his brother and brother to the European Cup together this time.

As the Greek team's biggest star and biggest killer, Antetokounmpo is undoubtedly the tactical core of this team. In the last European Championship, he averaged 29.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, ranking first in the tournament.

Similar to Jokic, Antetokounmpo has played for the Greek men's basketball team since 2014 and has been fighting for 11 years, but has not won a medal in various competitions so far. The Greek men's basketball team won twice and won bronze medals in the European Championships in history, which has nothing to do with Antetokounmpo. This time, he and the two brothers once again launched an attack on the medal.

Judging from the previous warm-up match, Antetokounmpo's two brothers are not "relationship households", and they can indeed play some role in the team. Costas, who once played for the Lakers, has made great progress. He showed his all-round skills in the warm-up match with the Italian team, and the evolution of the defensive end was a big surprise.

For this European Championship, the brothers went to fight together is not unique to Greece. The Latvian men's basketball team, one of the hosts, is not only the star Porzingis worthy of attention, but the Bertans brothers are also included in the 12-man roster. Both of these brothers have also experienced NBA competitions, and the growth process of his younger brother Davis is inspiring. When he was a child, half of his right ring finger was sawed off due to an accident, but Davis did not give up basketball since then. Later, after continuous training, he won the title of "Nine-finger Shooting".

The German team, which is regarded as the "second favorite to win the championship", also has two brothers joining forces to compete this time. Compared with the World Cup winning roster two years ago, the brother of the Wagner Brothers, Moritz Wagner, missed the game due to serious injury this season, but they made up for another pair of brothers: the Da Silva Brothers. The defending champion of the European Cup, Spain, is led by the twins Hernan Gomez brothers. Brother Juan won the last European Championship finals Best Player (FMVP); brother Willie was elected MVP. Interestingly, the Spanish and Greek teams were in the same group. At that time, fans will be able to see the good show of the "Letter Family" vs. Hernan Gomez brothers in advance.

How far can Doncic, who has lost weight, lead the team?

In addition to Jokic and Antetokounmpo, Doncic, another NBA goal-level star, will go to this European Cup in the Slovenian jersey.

This is the third time that Doncic, 26, has participated in the European Cup. In 2017, he helped Slovenia win the first championship in team history as a main player and was selected for the best team in the tournament. In the last European Cup, Doncic grew into the absolute core of the team. In the group stage, Doncic led Slovenia to win four games, including scoring 47 points in a single game to lead the team to defeat France. But in the knockout stage, Slovenia's condition fluctuated. In the quarterfinals, they were out of the way by Poland and unfortunately stopped.

In order to prepare for this year's event, Doncic worked hard and successfully got rid of his fat body. It is reported that Doncic has successfully lost 30 pounds (about 13.6 kilograms) since last summer. Both body shape and competitive state have been adjusted to the best level in his career. The former "little fat man" has become a "slim man".

The changes brought by slimming are obvious: in his debut warm-up match with Germany on August 9, Doncic tried his best in 24 minutes, scoring 19 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Although in the warm-up match with Latvia, he fell to the ground and was pressed to his calf by his teammates and left the court due to injury, fortunately it would not affect his appearance in the main game.

Although Doncic is in a hot personal form, judging from the Slovenian lineup, he is a little bit unsuccessful: both the core striker Qian Chal and naturalized center Josh Nebo missed the European Championship. In the previous six warm-up matches, Slovenia only achieved a record of 1 win and 5 losses, and the only victory was against the British men's basketball team. After losing to Serbia in the last game, Doncic seemed extremely annoyed and even scolded his teammates harshly in the locker room.

In this European Cup, Slovenia is in Group D, with opponents in the same group including France, Israel, Poland, Iceland and Belgium.