Eurobasket 2025 Group D teams, players, and analysis

France and Slovenia are the favorites to win Group D at Eurobasket 2025 , a tournament of particular interest to Spanish fans, as La Familia's opponent in the Round of 16, should they qualify, would come from here. The top two spots appear to be already secured, while Israel, Poland, Belgium, and Iceland should compete for third and fourth place.

Frédéric Fauthoux's French team, undefeated in its five preparation matches, including the two it played against Spain , arrives at Eurobasket 2025 depleted with several important losses, but is the third favorite for the title according to the latest Power Ranking prepared by FIBA ​​and has usually been a regular in the fight for medals in recent years.

Highlights include Real Madrid's Theo Maledon, NBA players Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), Bilal Coulibaly (Wizards), Alexandre Sarr (Wizards), and Guerschon Yabusele (New York Knicks) ; and Nadir Hifi, who already demonstrated his scoring prowess in the Euroleague with Paris Basketball and re-signed at the last minute after being ruled out.

France, always endorsed by its high physical level in defense, defends the silver medal from three years ago , but despite always being one of the favorites, has not won a major tournament since Eurobasket 2013. This summer, after the losses, especially of the stellar and differential Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier , plus the last minute losses of Vincent Poirier and Matthew Strazel, it seems complicated that it can be the year for them, although they are clear favorites to lead Group D.

On paper, the second seed in this group should be Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic . The 2017 continental champions have experienced a steady loss of talent in recent summers, to the point where they are 11th in the aforementioned Power Rankings , despite having one of the best players in the world.

In fact, since that success eight years ago, the Slovenian team hasn't been able to win a medal again, and in its last two tournaments, the 2022 Eurobasket and the 2023 World Cup, it didn't even compete for medals. Furthermore, its preparation results are also far from flattering, with just one win in six matches . The remaining matches have seen five losses, all by a margin of 10 points or more.

From here, the options open up for the rest of the teams, with Israel, Poland, Belgium, and Iceland fighting for the other two spots that grant access to the round of 16. These four teams would determine Spain's opponent in that round if Sergio Scariolo's team finishes in the top two of Group C.

The best of the four appears to be Israel, 12th in the FIBA ​​rankings of favorites, which include Portland Trail Blazers player Deni Avdija . The Israeli team failed to qualify for the last Olympic Games or the 2023 World Cup and has played four games this summer, with two wins against Cyprus and Greece, the latter still without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and two losses against Estonia and Montenegro.

Poland, meanwhile, will be playing with the advantage of the environment, as all Group D matches will be played in Katowice . The Polish national team finished fourth in Berlin in 2022 and this year they arrive with Monaco player Jordan Loyd as their star, alongside other well-known players in our country such as Aleksander Balcerowski and Tomasz Gielo . Igor Milicic's team has three wins in seven matches this summer.

The fifth team in this group is Belgium, which also missed out on playing in either the 2024 Olympic Games or the 2023 World Cup, and which arrives with just one victory in five friendly matches, against Great Britain. The best player is Ismael Bako , center for Unics Kazan who had a brief stint at Manresa in the 2021-22 season, a club where center Archange Izaw Bolavie, also part of the Belgian squad, will play next season.

Finally, the team with the fewest chances is Iceland, which has only won one game this summer, against Sweden, and has Bilbao Basket center Tryggvi Hlinason as its mainstay on a team that has only one player who has played in the Euroleague this season , point guard Martin Hermansson. The Icelanders had not appeared in a Eurobasket for eight years and had not played in a major international tournament since that date.