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The Utah Jazz’s Jusuf Nurkic has joined a slew of NBA stars who are representing their nations at EuroBasket 2025. Alongside the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, Nurkic leads a Bosnia and Herzegovina roster that has suffered defeats in all three of their preparatory games.
And things seem to be getting even worse, with head coach Adis Beciragic taking aim at his NBA star after a 102-90 loss against Montenegro.
“(Jusuf) Nurkic is out of shape and can barely run,” Beciragic said of the Utah Jazz big man despite the 30-year-old scoring 15 points in the loss. Nurkic was not the only one the head coach has issues with, as he went on to reveal that even Xavier Castaneda is yet to regain fitness, per BasketNews.
The latest defeat follows a 126-89 thrashing by Serbia in a closed-door friendly and back-to-back losses against China earlier this summer. Beciragic stressed that the team’s preparation has been far from acceptable, pointing to missed opportunities such as the 18 missed free throws versus Serbia.
Bosnia is set to be part of a difficult EuroBasket group which includes the likes of Spain, Italy, and Georgia. However, both Nurkic and the Unicaja star have multiple opportunities to get back in the coach’s good books.
Bosnia and Herzegovina face Great Britain and Belgium in Ostend on August 16 and 17, followed by two more matchups with Belgium on August 23 and 24. Nurkic has joined the team after an unsettled year in the NBA that saw him average 8.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 51 games for the Charlotte Hornets and the Utah Jazz, combined.
The 30-year-old has also been linked to an exit from the Jazz, with Brian Windhorst recently reporting that the franchise sees him as an expiring contract and are instead focussed on developing younger stars. Hence, a strong EuroBasket campaign will only do good to his NBA future as well.
