The remaining four spots in the 2024 Olympic Games have been claimed, with Brazil, Greece, Spain, and, now, Puerto Rico punching their tickets to Paris on Sunday. At four tournaments around the world this week, 24 teams have competed for those spots. Eight remained when Sunday began with games in Latvia, Greece, Spain and Puerto Rico to determine the full field in Paris. Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and other familiar faces have been battling it out this week and Antetokounmpo’s Greece team knocked out Doncic’s Slovenia side on Saturday.
In Valencia, Spain, the host country (featuring Santi Aldama, Usman Garuba, Juan Nunez, Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernandez, Lonrezo Brown and Juancho and Willy Hernangomez) defeated an intriguing team from the Bahamas (featuring Deandre Ayton, Buddy Hield and Eric Gordon) in the finals. Previously, Spain beat Finland (which did not have Lauri Markkanen) in Saturday’s semifinals to advance to Sunday.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the host country (featuring Jose Alvarado, Tremont Waters and Davon Reed) defeated Mexico in the semifinals. Lithuania (featuring Domantas Sabonis, Domantas Motiejunas, Mindaugus Kuzminskas and Deividas Sirvydis) defeated Italy (featuring Danilo Gallinari, Nicolo Melli and Nico Mannion) in the other San Juan semi. Puerto Rico rode its hometown advantage all the way to a win over Lithuania to close Sunday’s games.
In Riga, Latvia, the host country (featuring Davis and Dairis Bertans, Rodions Kurucs and Janis Timma) fell to Brazil (featuring Gui Santos, Bruno Caboclo, Cristiano Felicio, Raul Neto, Marcelo Huertas and Didi Louzada) in the finals, 94-69.
Elsewhere, Greece will head to its first Olympics event in 16 years after handily defeating Croatia, 80-69. It’ll be the first time Antetokounmpo will represent Greece on the Olympic stage, and he’ll do so against a stacked roster of fellow NBA luminaries.
From Tuesday to Thursday, each team played the two other teams in its group. The top two teams from each group in each tournament advanced the semifinals on Saturday. The winner of each tournament gets to go to France, where the basketball portion of the program will begin in Lille on July 27. France, by virtue of hosting the Olympics, has already qualified, as have Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan and the United States.
How to watch Olympic basketball qualifying
All qualifying games are available on Courtside 1891, FIBA’s streaming platform.
Olympic basketball qualifying tournament schedule, scores
(All times Eastern)
Tuesday, July 2
Bahamas 96, Finland 85
Spain 104, Lebanon 59
Dominican Republic 90, Egypt 77
Brazil 81, Montenegro 72
Latvia 83, Georgia 55
Croatia 108, Slovenia 92
Italy 114, Bahrain 53
Lithuania 96, Mexico 84
Wednesday, July 3
Montenegro 70, Cameroon 66
New Zealand 90, Croatia 86
Bahamas 90, Poland 81
Philippines 89, Latvia 80
Greece 89, Dominican Republic 82
Spain 89, Angola 81
Lithuania 97, Côte d’Ivoire 93
Puerto Rico 99, Bahrain 56
Thursday, July 4
Georgia 96, Philippines 94
Slovenia 104, New Zealand 78
Lebanon 74, Angola 70
Cameroon 77, Brazil 74
Greece 93, Egypt 71
Finland 89, Poland 88
Mexico 92, Côte d’Ivoire 81
Puerto Rico 80, Italy 69
Saturday, July 6
Brazil 71, Philippines 60
Greece 96, Slovenia 68
Bahamas 89, Lebanon 72
Latvia 72, Cameroon 59
Croatia 80, Dominican Republic 77
Spain 81, Finland 74
Lithuania 88, Italy 64
Puerto Rico 98, Mexico 78
Sunday, July 7
Brazil 94, Latvia 69
Greece 80, Croatia 69
Spain 86, Bahamas 78
Puerto Rico 79, Lithuania 68
