Rio Olympics: Denver Nuggets in Qualifying Tournaments
By Drew Albee
While the USA remain heavy favorites in Rio, several international Denver Nuggets are still fighting bring a medal back to the Mile High City this Rio Olympics.
Every four years, the NBA’s offseason overlaps with the Summer Olympic Games and this is one of those years. The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio are rapidly approaching, set to tip-off August 6. This year, our Denver Nuggets have three — potentially four — players aiming to help their countries qualify for the three remaining spots in the Olympic field.
Three quarters of the countries participating in this year’s Olympic basketball have already qualified for the tournament — including the defending FIBA World Cup champions and Olympic gold medalists, USA Basketball.
The United States just released their Olympic roster and while it is far from the talent-level of the 1992 “Dream Team” or the 2008 “Redeem Team,” the team is still heavily favored to win the tournament.
Other teams that have already qualified include: the host country, Brazil; AfroBasket 2015 winners, Nigeria; 2015 FIBA Americas Championship winners and runners-up, Venezuela and Argentina; 2015 FIBA Asia Championship winners, China; EuroBasket 2015 winners and runners-up, Spain and Lithuania; and 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship winners, Australia.
None of the qualified countries have any Denver Nuggets on their 12-man rosters after Spanish big man — and recent Denver draftee, Juan Hernangomez, elected to forgo participation in the Olympics to join the Nuggets’ summer league roster.
That does not, however, mean that the Nuggets will be absent from Olympic play as a trio of Nuggets are already competing in international friendlies to gear up for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament process, set to begin on July 4.
As luck would have it, the three Nuggets that are definitely participating for their countries in international play this summer — Nikola Jokic for Serbia, Danilo Gallinari for Italy and Joffrey Lauvergne for France — all would up in different qualifying tournaments. This gives all three of them the opportunity to represent their respective nations at the Olympics.
It is unclear whether or not sharpshooter Jamal Murray — listed on Canada’s roster — will be able to participate.
Let’s take a look at the Nuggets who have a chance to help their country qualify.
Next: Nikola Jokic for Serbia