I write this player preview in an airport departure lounge just hours after the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket tournament. For those reading this who don’t engage with any basketball outside of the NBA, Spain — led by one of the league’s biggest cult heroes, Juancho Hernangomez — beat France in the final. It’s the second consecutive second-place finish France have achieved in their past two major international tournaments, after winning silver at the Olympics the previous summer.
The Los Angeles Clippers’ Nicolas Batum was a star at those games in Tokyo last year, helping his home country reach the finals with perhaps the moment of the entire competition — a game-winning block just before the buzzer against Luka Doncic’s Slovenia with just a point between the two teams.