GB at EuroBasket 2025 – Group B Preview

FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tips off on August 27 where Great Britain will be one of 24 nations hoping to make a run at winning the 42^nd edition of Europe’s flagship basketball competition.

They will be heading to Tampere, Finland to take on some tough opponents in Group B in the form of Germany, Lithuania, Montenegro, Sweden and group play hosts Finland.

GB vs Lithuania (27 August), Germany (1 September) and Montenegro (3 September) are free to watch on Courtside 1891 – register an account here.

Great Britain

GB will look to deliver some good performances in Finland on their quest to become the first Senior Men’s team to progress beyond the group stage of EuroBasket.

To do this, they will lean on the presence of veterans such as Myles Hesson, Luke Nelson and Carl Wheatle, and hope to be boosted by big man Gabe Olaseni – who is battling a calf injury and has missed all prep games. Akwasi Yeboah has a growing presence on the team, having had some impressive showings in their warmup games.

Even though Marc Steutel’s side only went 1-4 in their EuroBasket prep, they did end their warmup schedule on a high by beating Estonia.

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Germany

Boasting one of the most talented rosters in the tournament, Germany will be hoping the bronze medal they claimed at EuroBasket 2022 will prove the catalyst for a gold medal run this time around.

Sacramento Kings guard Dennis Schroder remains the engine and spiritual leader for the 2023 FIBA World Cup Champions whilst Orlando Magic star Franz Wagner is expected to play a starring role for the Germans.

The German squad are equipped with good depth courtesy of players such as Tristan Da Silva, Isaac Bonga and Maodo Lo while former Boston Celtics centre Daniel Theis will look to make his impact felt on the inside.

Wagner was in very good form during Germany’s EuroBasket prep, where they went 5-1 overall, after scoring 29 points in a win against Spain and dropping 26 in a loss to Serbia.

Finland

As the hosts for the Group B games, Finland will look to take full advantage of home crowd support in order to make it to the next round.

Their hopes and on court results will largely rest on the play of Utah Jazz ace Lauri Markkanen, but the Finnish are also fairly well rounded throughout the rest of the roster with the likes of Olivier Nkamhoua and Mikael Jantunen able to be relied upon.

Markkanen was the biggest factor in Finland going 4-0 in their warmup games, as he went on an incredible tear to explode for 48 points in a demolition of Belgium along with recording 42 points in a victory over Poland.

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Lithuania

As GB’s opponents in the first game, the Lithuanians will head to Finland looking to add to their storied history in EuroBasket and international basketball, especially with 2015 being the last time they finished in the top three of this competition when they took home silver.

Although they will be missing an integral piece in Domantas Sabonis, they will still be led by veteran and national team stalwart Jonas Valanciunas who recently joined the Denver Nuggets.

Valanciunas will be joined in the side by the likes of Bayern Munich’s Rokas Jokubaitis and Zalgiris Kaunas trio Laurynas Birutis, Azuolas Tubelis and Deividas Sirvydis.

Tubelis is one of many new faces in the team who will get their first chance to represent Lithuania, who only succumbed to Türkiye to go 6-1 in their EuroBasket preparation schedule.

Montenegro

EuroBasket 2025 will mark the third tournament in a row Montenegro will be competing alongside Europe’s elite after failing to qualify in 2015.

This is set to be the final EuroBasket for Chicago Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic, who is poised to be a standout once again for his national side. Marko Simonovic, Kyle Allman and Vladimir Mihailovic will also look to provide stellar contributions for Head coach Bosko Radovic.

Montenegro were a bit up and down however in their EuroBasket prep after going 2-3 in their warmup games, with Vucevic putting up a 27 point display in a win against Israel.

 

Sweden

Sweden will be playing in EuroBasket for the first time in 12 years and will hope to create some more history when group play gets underway.

The star man for the Swedish is guard Pelle Larsson of the Miami Heat and further support could also come from players such as Barra Njie, Melwin Pantzar and Adam Ramstedt.

Just like the British, Sweden also finished their EuroBasket warmup schedule with a 1-4 record with their only victory coming against Poland, a game in which Larsson showcased his exciting potential by going off for 32 points.

GB tip off their campaign against Lithuania at 11:30am on Wednesday morning – watch free at Courtside 1891.