2019 Serbia FIBA Basketball World Cup team
The 2019 Serbia FIBA Basketball World Cup team represented Serbia at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. Serbia finished the tournament in fifth place with a 6–2 record and qualified for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Serbia qualified for the World Cup by taking the 3rd place in the European Second Round Group L. The team was coached by Aleksandar Đorđević, with assistant coaches Jovica Antonić, Darko Rajaković, and Miroslav Nikolić. The Serbian team won the silver medal at the previous World Cup. This was the 3rd appearance of Serbia at the FIBA Basketball World Cup; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro who themselves qualified on three occasions. Serbia's best result is 2nd place in 2014; however, FIBA considers Serbia as the successor team of FR Yugoslavia who won 2 World Cups (1998, 2002). At the end of the tournament, head coach Đorđević announced his decision to leave the position after six years. For his performances, guard Bogdan Bogdanović was selected to the FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Tournament Team. With 183 points scored throughout the tournament, guard Bogdanović was the FIBA Basketball World Cup Top Scorer by total points scored. Timeline 7 June: 34-man roster announced 1 July: 18-man roster announced 18 July: The players gathering in Belgrade 21 July: Start of a training camp at Kopaonik 4 August: The end of the training camp 4 August – 27 August: Exhibition games 20 August: Departure of the team to China 31 August – 15 September: 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualification First round Second round Roster On 24 May 2019, center Nikola Jokić, who earned All-NBA First Team honors, has confirmed that he will play at the World Cup. All players who won a silver medal at the 2017 EuroBasket in four European countries were included on the 34-man roster besides center Vladimir Štimac who announced his retirement from international basketball after Eurobasket at 29. Guard Branko Lazić is the only member of the 2017 Serbia roster who wasn't listed at the 18-man preliminary roster. Centers Jokić and Ognjen Kuzmić, and guard Marko Gudurić are members of the 18-man preliminary roster who didn't play a single game in the World Cup qualifications. On 1 July, the EuroLeague guard Nemanja Nedović expressed his disappointment on his cut from the 18-man preliminary roster. On 14 July, Kuzmić was involved in a serious traffic accident near Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he got life-threatening injuries. On 15 July, Kuzmić was put out from the roster due to the unpredictability of the recovery time for such injuries, so coach Aleksandar Đorđević invited center Nikola Jovanović as his substitute. On 8 August, coach Đorđević announced the preliminary 14-man roster. On 10 August, the team captain Miloš Teodosić suffered a plantar fascia injury in his left foot in the game against Lithuania and will remain in the roster until new results are known after a recovery therapy. Forward Vladimir Lučić and guard Teodosić skipped