EuroBasket 2025 preselection: no Victor Wembanyama and Evan Fournier!

Head coach Frédéric Fauthoux has revealed an 18-player preselection for the French national team for EuroBasket 2025, taking place from August 27 to September 14. The list includes 12 EuroLeague players and 6 NBA players. Besides Rudy Gobert, the major absentees from this list are Victor Wembanyama and Evan Fournier, who were highly uncertain for this summer.

French National Team preselection for EuroBasket 2025:

• 1/2: Matthew Strazel, Théo Maledon, Sylvain Francisco and Frank Ntilikina
• 2/1: Nadir Hifi and Elie Okobo
• 3/2: Isaïa Cordinier, Bilal Coulibaly and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot
• 3/4: Zaccharie Risacher and Ousmane Dieng
• 4/5: Guerschon Yabusele and Jaylen Hoard
• 5/4: Alexandre Sarr
• 5: Vincent Poirier, Mathias Lessort, Mouhammadou Jaiteh and Moussa Diabaté

Twelve EuroLeague players, six from NBA

Among point guards/shooting guards, we find a EuroLeague-based foundation with the Monaco duo, Elie Okobo and Matthew Strazel, who were already present at the February qualification window, along with Théo Maledon.

Despite their availability earlier this year, Nadir Hifi and Sylvain Francisco weren’t part of the Zadar adventure but are now included in Frédéric Fauthoux’s list. Both point guards finished the 2024-2025 season strong, leading their respective teams (Paris and Zalgiris Kaunas) to national titles. Finally, Frank Ntilikina completes the backcourt preselection.

At the wing positions, Olympic hero Isaïa Cordinier, fresh off his first Italian championship with Virtus Bologna, is present. Along with Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, he’ll mentor a group of young NBA talents, including 2024 NBA Draft first pick Zaccharie Risacher, and Washington Wizards sophomore Bilal Coulibaly. The Hawks player already experienced national team play during a February 2024 window (one cap), while the former Boulogne-Levallois forward was part of the Paris Olympics adventure. Finally, recent NBA champion with Oklahoma City, Ousmane Dieng, is somewhat of a « surprise » in this preselection.

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Arthur Puybertier

Finally, in a frontcourt without Victor Wembanyama, the French team won’t lack assets in the paint. It features the most experienced player on this list, Vincent Poirier (60 caps). Long injured this season after his serious fibula injury, Mathias Lessort is present, along with Monaco’s Mam’ Jaiteh. This trio will be joined by Jaylen Hoard, who confirmed his progress this season in his first EuroLeague campaign, as well as national team newcomers Alexandre Sarr and Moussa Diabaté.

Expected absences

This preselection by Frédéric Fauthoux for EuroBasket 2025 seems very logical, with six players who won Olympic silver in Paris last summer (Strazel, Cordinier, Yabusele, Lessort, Coulibaly, Ntilikina). The expected absences of Victor Wembanyama and Evan Fournier were confirmed by their non-selection. French team veteran Andrew Albicy (over 100 caps) falls victim to fierce competition, as do international window players Amine Noua, Adam Mokoka, and Yoan Makoundou. Off the radar since the 2023 World Cup, Terry Tarpey could have contended for a preselection spot, as could rising star Tidjane Salaün.

From late July, the French team will gather at INSEP for an initial training camp, before heading to Vendée and Pau. The team will play five preparation games before traveling to Katowice (Poland) to begin their EuroBasket 2025 journey. As a reminder, France will face Belgium, Slovenia, Israel, Poland, and Iceland in the first round.

Un nouveau chapitre s’ouvre 🇫🇷📖

La liste des Bleus convoqués par Frédéric Fauthoux pour la préparation à l’@EuroBasket ⚔️

Rendez-vous le 24 juillet prochain 👊#TeamFranceBasket | #PassionnémentBleu | #EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/FalwOADiOP

— Équipes de France de Basket (@FRABasketball) June 27, 2025