The 2019 Serbia FIBA Basketball World Cup team represented Serbia at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. Serbia finished the tournament in fifth place with a 6–2 record and qualified for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Serbia qualified for the World Cup by taking the 3rd place in the European Second Round Group L. The team was coached by Aleksandar Đorđević, with assistant coaches Jovica Antonić, Darko Rajaković, and Miroslav Nikolić. The Serbian team won the silver medal at the previous World Cup.
This was the 3rd appearance of Serbia at the FIBA Basketball World Cup; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro who themselves qualified on three occasions. Serbia's best result is 2nd place in 2014; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia who won 2 World Cups (1998, 2002).
At the end of the tournament, head coach Đorđević announced his decision to leave the position after six years. For his performances, guard Bogdan Bogdanović was selected to the FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Tournament Team. With 183 points scored throughout the tournament, guard Bogdanović was the FIBA Basketball World Cup Top Scorer by total points scored.
Timeline 7 June: 34-man roster announced 1 July: 18-man roster announced 18 July: The players gathering in Belgrade 21 July: Start of a training camp at Kopaonik 4 August: The end of the training camp 4 August – 27 August: Exhibition games 20 August: Departure of the team to China 31 August – 15 September: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
Qualification
First round
Second round
Roster
On 24 May 2019, center Nikola Jokić, who earned All-NBA First Team honors, has confirmed that he will play at the World Cup. All players who won a silver medal at the 2017 EuroBasket in four European countries were included on the 34-man roster besides center Vladimir Štimac who announced his retirement from international basketball after Eurobasket at 29. Guard Branko Lazić is the only member of the 2017 Serbia roster who wasn't listed at the 18-man preliminary roster. Centers Jokić and Ognjen Kuzmić, and guard Marko Gudurić are members of the 18-man preliminary roster who didn't play a single game in the World Cup qualifications. On 1 July, the EuroLeague guard Nemanja Nedović expressed his disappointment on his cut from the 18-man preliminary roster. On 14 July, Kuzmić was involved in a serious traffic accident near Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he got life-threatening injuries. On 15 July, Kuzmić was put out from the roster due to the unpredictability of the recovery time for such injuries, so coach Aleksandar Đorđević invited center Nikola Jovanović as his substitute. On 8 August, coach Đorđević announced the preliminary 14-man roster. On 10 August, the team captain Miloš Teodosić suffered a plantar fascia injury in his left foot in the game against Lithuania and will remain in the roster until new results are known after a recovery therapy. Forward Vladimir Lučić and guard Teodosić skipped the Acropolis Tournament due to injuries. On 16 August, guard Dragan Milosavljević suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee in the game against Turkey. On the next day, it was announced that guard Milosavljević would not be able to play at the World Cup due to the injury. On 20 August, coach Đorđević confirmed that a guard and team captain Teodosić won't play at the World Cup, due to the injury. Center Miroslav Raduljica was selected as a new team captain due to Teodosić's inability to play on the tournament. On 29 August, coach Đorđević officially announced the final roster.
The members of Serbia roster at the EuroBasket 2017 guards Stefan Jović, Vasilije Micić, Bogdan Bogdanović, Gudurić, forwards Stefan Birčević, Lučić and center Boban Marjanović are coming back to the World Cup roster. Forward Marko Simonović and centers Raduljica and Jokić make the first appearance at a major tournament since the 2016 Summer Olympics, while forward Nemanja Bjelica and center Nikola Milutinov previously played at the EuroBasket 2015. The 2019 World Cup marked the first time since EuroBasket 2011 that the Serbia national team roster didn't contain any players from the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS).
The average height of players in the roster was which makes the Serbians the tallest roster in the tournament. Standing at , center Marjanović was the tallest player in the tournament. The average age was 28 years old.
The following is the Serbia roster for the World Cup.
The following were candidates to make the team: +Earlier candidatesPlayer Team Added Removed Reason Fenerbahçe 18-man roster cut Olimpia Milano Partizan NIS Borac Čačak FMP Crvena zvezda mts Partizan NIS Crvena zvezda mts Bayern Munich Partizan NIS Gaziantep Mega Bemax Crvena zvezda mts Lokomotiv Kuban Virtus Bologna Real Madrid Injured Bayern Munich Drop out UCAM Murcia Roster cut Varese Dolomiti Energia Trento Unicaja Injured Los Angeles Clippers Injured
Notes
Depth chart
Staff On 18 July, Darko Rajaković was hired as an assistant coach, joining the staff as a replacement for Milan Minić. On 20 August, physiotherapist Marko Sokić returned to the staff.
Position Staff member Age Team Head coach Segafredo Virtus BolognaAssistant coaches Konstantin Phoenix Suns Team manager Crvena zvezda mts Conditioning coaches Segafredo Virtus Bologna Scouts 52 Physicians Physiotherapists Equipment manager Press officer Age – describes age on 31 August 2019
Source: KSS
Uniform
Supplier: Peak Main sponsor: Ganten Back sponsor: Triglav (below number) Shorts sponsor: mts
Exhibition games The Serbia roster played ten exhibition games and went undefeated at 10–0. They began its exhibition schedule with three domestic games and went undefeated. The game with Lithuania in Belgrade had charity cause. The Basketball Federation of Serbia donated a percentage of the ticket sale revenue to a UNICEF project in Serbia. On 13 August, it's announced that 5.374 million Serbian dinars have to be donated to the UNICEF project. Serbia played at the 2019 Acropolis of Athens Tournament together with Greece, Italy, and Turkey from 16–18 August. The Serbia roster went undefeated at 3–0 in Athens and won the Acropolis Tournament. Last games was held from 23–27 August at the 2019 Austiger Cup in Shenyang where they faced France, Italy, and New Zealand. Also, the Serbia roster went undefeated and won the Austiger Cup.
Acropolis Cup
AusTiger Cup
Tournament
The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup is the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup championship that is organized by FIBA.
Preliminary round
Serbia was drawn into Group D with Angola, Italy, and the Philippines and played all of its group phase matches in Foshan at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center from 31 August to 4 September.
All times are local UTC+8.
Angola This was the second game between Angola and Serbia in the World Cup. The Serbians won the first meeting in 2010. The Serbians won in the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the last competitive game between the two teams.
Forward Nemanja Bjelica missed the game due to a knee injury. Center Miroslav Raduljica made his 100th appearance for the national team. Angola Statistics Serbia 13/33 (39%) 2-pt field goals 23/35 (66%) 8/26 (31%) 3-pt field goals 13/20 (65%) 9/13 (69%) Free throws 20/25 (80%) 6 Offensive rebounds 913 Defensive rebounds 32 19 Total rebounds 417 Assists 32 16 Turnovers 16 5 Steals 7 3 Blocks 1 24 Fouls 13 TCL Player of the Game: Bogdan Bogdanović
Philippines This was the first competitive game between Serbia and the Philippines.
Serbia had a slow start to the game and the Philippines tried to grow in the confidence. Tied at 7-all with six minutes left in the opening quarter, center Nikola Jokić came off the bench and the Serbian offense started to roll. The Serbs used a 7–0 run to close the first 10 minutes with a 25–13 lead. Forward Nemanja Bjelica came off the bench making all 7 of his field-goal attempts, including 3 three-pointers to finish with a game-high 20 points in just 16 minutes of action. Serbia not only out-rebounded Philippines 37–23, but they finished with 37 assists against Philippines' 14.
This is the game won by largest points margin at 59 for the Serbians at any of major tournaments since 2006. With 37 team assists Serbia set the World Cup record for the most assists in a single game.
TCL Player of the Game: Nemanja Bjelica
Italy This was the first game between Italy and Serbia in the World Cup. Serbia won in its last competitive game against Italy, in EuroBasket 2017.
The game with Italy kicked off pretty tie, and after a 3-pointer from Bogdan Bogdanović in the 3rd minute, the score tied the game at 8-all. After the third straight 3-pointer from Bogdanović in the 5th minute, the score was 13–10. In the 7th minute, after a 3-pointer from Stefan Jović and points from Nikola Jokić, the score was 20–14. After Boban Marjanović scored 2 free throws and got the lead up to 7 with a minute left in the first quarter, 26–19. The first quarter ended with Serbia's 28–23 lead. In the second quarter, the Serbians played better and controlled the game, while the Italians kept up with 3-pointers. After two good plays and a 3-pointers by Jović and Bogdanović, Serbia led 39–29 in the 14th minute. Thereafter, the Italians had the 5–0 run. After a layup by Vasilije Micić, with 3 minutes remaining in the first half, the lead was back up to 10 points for Serbia, 48–38. At the half time, Serbia led 50–42. At the start of the third quarter, the Italians have caught up with a series of 3-pointers and cut the lead down to 55–53 for Serbia. With a good defense, the Serbians held up them from getting the lead. So the Serbians lead was going up and down from 2 to 6 points. In those moments, Miroslav Raduljica got fouled three times in a row and Bogdanović right after, so the Serbians got the lead back up to 10 point from a free throw line at 64–54. Nemanja Bjelica scored for the 13 points lead at 70–57 by the end of the third quarter. At the beginning of the last quarter, Italy had a 5–0 run and got back into the game, before Bogdanović made a 3-pointer and Raduljica scored from a free throw resisted the comeback at 76–62. Thereafter, Bogdanović had a steal and scored for 15 points lead at 80–65 within 6 minutes remaining. A minute later Bjelica made a 3-pointer, then Bogdanović had another steal and passed it to Vladimir Lučić who scored for the 85–67 Serbian lead at 4:30 minutes remaining. Bogdanović made another 3-pointer and got the lead up to 23 points at 90:67. Bogdanović scored a career-high 31 points and led all Serbs with 36 minutes played as Serbia won 92–77 over Italy.
TCL Player of the Game: Bogdan Bogdanović
Second round
Serbia finished as the group winner in its preliminary group and advanced to the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup. It played against two top finishers of Group C, Spain and Puerto Rico, in Wuhan at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium from 6–8 September. Serbia finished as the runner-up in its second-round group and advance to the quarter-finals.
All times are local UTC+8.
Puerto Rico This was the first game between Puerto Rico and Serbia in the World Cup. Serbia won in its last competitive game against Puerto Rico, in the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Nemanja Bjelica led all scorers with 18 points off the bench, Nikola Jokić contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds, Boban Marjanović impressed 16 points, while David Huertas - the only Puerto Rican to score in double digits - finished with 11 points.