Drew Eubanks: Italy's secret weapon on the road to Paris Olympics / News - Basketnews.com

After the disappointment following Paolo Banchero's decision to represent Team USA, Italy has turned its attention towards Drew Eubanks.

Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix Credit Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP - Scanpix

Over the past three years, theItalian national teamhas seen an improvement in its results and a general growth in interest in its performance.

It all started with the pre-Olympic tournament in Belgrade in 2021, when the Azzurri, then coached by Meo Sacchetti, managed to secure a spot in the Tokyo Olympics by overcoming Serbia.

Then, in Tokyo, Italy reached the quarterfinals and was defeated by France, which went on all the way to the final against Team USA. Even after Meo Sacchetti's farewell and Gianmarco Pozzecco's arrival on the bench, the results continued to be quite positive.

The Azzurri remained among the top 8 European teams reaching the quarterfinals of EuroBasket 2022, being stopped once again by France.

In the last international competition played, the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Italy stopped in the Round of 16, suffering a defeat against Team USA.

However, Italy has always been an undersized team in recent years, which has had to make up for its lack of physicality and athleticism under the basket with alternative solutions, using players such as Nicolo Melli and Danilo Gallinari as de-facto No. 5's.

This is also why, for about a year now, the federation's efforts in the search for a player to naturalize have focused onDrew Eubanks, a big man of thePhoenix Suns.

As we reported exclusively onBasketNews last summer, the Italian federation has been working on Eubanks' case for quite some time.

According to BasketNews sources, the latest information regarding Eubanks is

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