Svetislav Pesic gives injury update on Nemanja Bjelica / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Ahead of the trip to Slovenia, the Serbian national team head coach Svetislav Pesic revealed the reasons why he decided to say goodbye to the long-time captain Milos Teodosic at the start of the preparations, and gave an update about the health condition of Nemanja Bjelica, who suffered a calf injury against Montenegro.

The specialist stressed nothing is final yet and that Bjelica is feeling better. However, he also emphasized that the NBA champion will not travel to Slovenia and the tournament in Hamburg where Serbia's opponents will be Italy and the Czech Republic or Germany.

"Bjelica had a bad stop, he doesn't know how he got hurt either. He will be rested and will stay here [in Serbia]. Today he is a little better, but we will see how things progress. For us, every day is important," said Pesic, via Mozzart Sport.

"According to FIBA rules, we still have time to register the complete list for EuroBasket. Of course, we are sorry that he was injured, but what can we do? Others get injured too. Everyone from the medical staff is doing everything to help us. Some doctors even came to work at night, we are grateful to them for that," the bench boss added.

Serbia will play its first EuroBasket game on September 2 against the Netherlands. Before that, the team has FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers matches against Greece and Turkey.

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