The Miami Heat is still one month away from beginning training camp, but the EuroBasket tournament will provide an early glimpse of a few Heat players.
EuroBasket, which opens Wednesday and ends on Sept. 14, will feature three players on the Heat’s current roster: forward Simone Fontecchio with Italy, forward Nikola Jovic with Serbia and guard Pelle Larsson with Sweden.
The Heat is one of only four NBA teams with three or more players taking part in EuroBasket this year. The others are the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards.
Fontecchio is the only NBA player on Italy’s roster; Jovic is one of four NBA players on Serbia’s roster along with Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Tristan Vukcevic; and Larsson is the only NBA player on Sweden’s roster.
Serbia and Sweden have yet to win gold at EuroBasket, but Italy has already won the EuroBasket title twice. Italy won gold at EuroBasket in 1983 and 1999.
What’s the format for the tournament? Twenty-four teams are split into four groups of six for a round-robin group stage, and then the top four teams from each group advance to a 16-team single-elimination knockout bracket to determine the champion.
With each team playing five group-play games, here are the group-stage games involving Heat players (all Eastern time):
Fontecchio and Italy: vs. Greece on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in Cyprus, vs. Georgia on Saturday at 8 a.m. in Cyprus, vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Cyprus, vs. Spain on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in Cyprus, and vs. Cyprus on Sept. 4 at 11:15 a.m. in Cyprus.
Jovic and Serbia: vs. Estonia on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. in Latvia, vs. Portugal on Friday at 2:15 p.m. in Latvia, vs. Latvia on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Latvia, vs. Czechia on Monday at 2:15 p.m. in Latvia, and vs. Turkey on Sept. 3 at 2:15 p.m. in Latvia.
Larsson and Sweden: vs. Finland on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in Finland, vs. Germany on Friday at 6:30 a.m. in Finland, vs. Great Britain on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in Finland, vs. Montenegro on Monday at 6:30 a.m. in Finland, and vs. Lithuania on Sept. 3 at 9:30 a.m. in Finland.
All EuroBasket games can be streamed live on Courtside 1891, with the knockout rounds beginning on Sept. 6 and being played in Latvia. The Round of 16 will be played on Sept. 6 and 7, the quarterfinals will be played on Sept. 9 and 10, the semifinals will be played on Sept. 12, and the third-place game and final game will be played on Sept. 14.
Going on a deep EuroBasket run would lead to a quick turnaround for Fontecchio, Jovic and Larsson. The Heat is scheduled to hold its annual Media Day on Sept. 29 before opening training camp on Sept. 30 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton to kick off the 2025-26 NBA season.