Los Angeles Clippers duo Boban Marjanovic and Milos Teodosic are the latest NBA players who have withdrawn themselves from representing their home nation in the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifiers scheduled in September.

Marjanovic as well as Teodosic join fellow Serbian and Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic as notable absentees from Serbia's national team lineup for the two qualifying matches next month, per news website Novosti.

Their withdrawal comes as no surprise as there are a number of NBA players who have likewise decided to skip the qualifiers in September. With the new season opening in just over a month's time, most players have opted to stay in the United States to prepare for the grueling year ahead.

The 2019 FIBA World Cup, which will be held in China next summer, does not hold as much bearing as the summer Olympics when it comes to the magnitude of international basketball tournaments. To most NBA stars, winning a gold medal in the Olympics is more significant than raising the World Cup trophy.

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7-foot-3 big man Boban Marjanovic joined the Clippers last January as part of the deal that sent Blake Griffin to the Pistons. He only played 20 games for L.A. last season, averaging 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per contest. He became a crowd favorite due to his fun, dancing nature as well as his ability to rack up points, rebounds, and game-changing in limited action. The 30-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, which adds more pressure on him to perform this season.

As for Teodosic, he did not exactly fill the void that Chris Paul left last season, but performed capably nonetheless. In his rookie year, the 30-year-old point guard put up 9.5 points,  2.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.5 steals, and 2.0 three-pointers per game in 25.2 minutes per night. He struggled with a plantar fascia injury for most of the season, however, and was never able to fully recover from it. Like his Serbian compatriot, Teodosic is also on the final year of his deal, and will be looking to up his stock this term.