Salute to patriots

There were 19 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament players on NBA opening-day rosters last season. That’s not counting those with previous NBA experience. It’s a tribute to the NBA players for answering the call of national duty, coming off the rigors of a grueling campaign. A glowing example is Slovenia’s Luka Doncic who saw action for Dallas in the recent NBA Finals and played in the OQT in Piraeus, Greece.

Others who were on opening-day rosters and played in the OQTs were Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (despite missing the NBA playoffs with an injury), Lithuania’s Domas Sabonis and Azuolas Tubelis, Angola’s Bruno Fernando, Bahamas’ Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield, Croatia’s Dario Saric and Ivica Zubac, Dominican Republic’s Chris Duarte, Georgia’s Goga Bitadze and Sandro Mamukelashvili, Italy’s Danilo Gallinari, Latvia’s Davis Bertans, Montenegro’s Nikola Vucevic, Slovenia’s Vlatko Cancar and Spain’s Santiago Aldama and Usman Garuba.

Brazil’s Gui Santos was not on an NBA opening-day roster but managed to play in 23 games with the Golden State Warriors last season. He was one of seven Brazil players with NBA creds. The others were Cristiano Felicio, Didi Louzada, Marcelinho Huertas, Raul Neto, Joao Cardoso and Bruno Caboclo. Of Brazil’s 12 players, 10 play as imports in overseas leagues.

NBA players who skipped the OQT because of injuries include Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis, Croatia’s Bojan Bogdanovic and Italy’s Simone Fontecchio who all underwent surgery in the offseason. Finland’s Lauri Markkanen would’ve played if not for a right shoulder injury. New Zealand’s Steven Adams sat out the last NBA season recovering from right knee surgery and is still recuperating. Spain’s Ricky Rubio opted out of the OQT, claiming he’s not 100 percent. He also ruled out joining Spain in the Paris Olympics.

A notable OQT absentee was Lithuania’s Jonas Valanciunas who just signed a three-year $30.3 million contract with the Washington Wizards. He was in the process of negotiating a deal during preparations for the OQT and promised to join Lithuania if qualified for Paris. Too bad Lithuania lost to Puerto Rico for the Olympic ticket in the OQT. Cameroon’s Pascal Siakam agreed to a four-year $189.5 million contract with the Indiana Pacers three weeks before the OQT but never went to Latvia.

Miami’s Javier Jaquez could’ve played for Mexico in the OQT but didn’t. He’s not injured and no reason was given as to why he skipped. Boston’s Al Horford and Minnesota’s Karl Anthony Towns would’ve made a difference for the Dominican Republic in the OQT but both were missing in action. Croatia’s Luka Samanic, who played in 43 games with Utah last season, also skipped the OQT.

Players, regardless of their status, should show patriotism when called to suit up for the national team. Taking a rest to go on vacation isn’t a legitimate reason unless a player is recovering from injury. The worst case of a national traitor is Joel Embiid who could’ve been the game-changer for Cameroon in the OQT but chose to be a naturalized player for the US in the Paris Olympics.