Clippers news: Serbian guard Milos Teodosic to miss Eurobasket

LA Clippers guard Milos Teodosic will miss the 2017 Eurobasket competition due to an injury, and his Serbian national team will certainly miss him.

Following the departure of Chris Paul, the LA Clippers were able to fill the playmaking hole at point guard by adding Milos Teodosic to their roster on a two-year, $12.3 million deal. The Serbian has been playing basketball professionally for 12 years in Europe and will finally be making the jump to the NBA at age 30.

With Teodosic set to make his NBA ‘rookie' debut this coming season, the Serbian Basketball Federation announced that Teodosic will be unable to participate in this summer/fall Eurobasket competition that will take place from August 31 – September 17 in Helsinki (Finland), Tel-Aviv (Israel), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and Istanbul (Turkey).

Per Eurohoops.net:

“The chronic issue of Teodosic, due to which he missed part of the training camp and all the preparation games, prevents him from being completely healthy at the start of the tournament. Coach Aleksandar Djordjevic and Milos Teodosic, after consulting with the medical team of our national team and the LA Clippers, jointly made this difficult decision.”

Teodosic has been the captain of the Serbian national team since 2009, and in his last three Euroleague seasons with Russia's CSKA Moscow, Teodosic averaged 15.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 2.7 three-pointers per game on 44.8 percent shooting from the field, 40.4 percent from downtown, and a clutch 88.5 percent shooting from the free line in just 27.5 minutes per game.

“We have to take care of the players’ health and we have made a joint decision that Teodosic should skip the upcoming competition,” said coach Djordevic. “He is a player who has been devoted to the national team for years and his desire to play has always been great. Unfortunately, in this situation, the desire is not enough. This is a big handicap for the team, but we continue with the same ambitions.”

Teodosic is highly regarded as one of the best European players due, in large part, to his shot-making as well as his ability to find teammates, and his absence will surely be felt in the three week tournament.