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FIBA and NBA news: Dario Saric, Deandre Ayton, and Argentina’s woes

By Andrew Bernucca

Dec 11, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) hugs forward Dario Saric (20) during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) hugs forward Dario Saric (20) during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 11, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) hugs forward Dario Saric (20) during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) hugs forward Dario Saric (20) during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports /

The NBA offseason may be quiet, but FIBA play is going to continue to give us basketball junkies their fix. Dario Saric, Deandre Ayton, and Argentina all made headlines this week.

Many are counting down to the start of the NBA season as they wait for basketball to come back, but there are still plenty of hoops to watch this summer.

The FIBA World Cup gets underway later this week, and plenty of highly-competitive warm-up games with NBA talent going head-to-head have already taken place.

Countries not participating in the FIBA World Cup – some of which are notable such as Turkey, Croatia, and Argentina – are playing Olympic qualifiers in a last-gasp effort to make sure they’ll be participating in France in 2024.

It turns out, there’s more going on in the basketball world than James Harden calling Daryl Morey a liar to a bunch of children in China, or hypothesizing about why a Damian Lillard Miami Heat trade hasn’t happened yet.

Honestly, Pat Riley could just be taking a long nap. Once he wakes up, off-season activity should resume.

Plenty of stories are happening, and NBA players are showcasing their skills before training camp gets underway.

Here are some of the top basketball stories from this past week.

Can Dario Saric play a big role in the Golden State Warriors rotation next season?

Dario Saric has struggled in the NBA lately. Due to injuries, he’s barely played in over 100 games since 2020.

Concerns about his health though are the main reason the Golden State Warriors were able to swoop him up on a veteran’s minimum contract this summer.

It’s early days, but this already looks like it might’ve been a steal for the 2022 NBA champions. Saric has been hooping this summer for his home country of Croatia, and most recently helped lead them to defeat Turkey and qualify for the 2024 Olympics pre-qualifying tournament.

Saric finished the game with a double-double: 22 points and 11 rebounds. The win was in Istanbul, and Turkey had NBA players Furkan Korkmaz and Alpheren Sengun suiting up for them as well.

Saric averaged 15.8 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and 5.6 assists per game in the tournament. He also shot over 40% from three and looks like he could be exactly the type of bench player the Warriors were missing last season following their failure to replace Otto Porter Jr and Nemanja Bjelica.

That’s pretty good value at the veteran’s minimum.

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