Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the Blues with Albicy, Cordinier and Strazel but without Okobo or Maledon in the 12, to participate in the Olympic tournament

Elie Okobo ne jouera pas les JO. – armand lenoir

Selon L'Equipe, Elie Okobo et Théo Maledon ont quitté le groupe France, ce dimanche soir, à Montpellier. Vincent Collet dispose désormais de son groupe de 12 joueurs pour participer aux Jeux Olympiques, à la fin du mois.

France has one of the largest pools of talented basketball players in the world. As proven by the recent NBA drafts of Wembanyama, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr and Salaün over the last two years. A pool which is enough to cause coach Vincent Collet some serious headaches when putting together his list for the next Olympic Games.
Rich people's problems, some will say, "a difficult choice as there is no real evidence", pointed out the technician, at the head of the Blues since 2009.

From the initial group of 19, Killian Hayes and Ousmane Dieng were excluded on June 26. Joined a few days later by the unfortunate Vincent Poirier, injured in an ankle.
Before the match in Germany on Saturday, Vincent Collet announced the departure of two other players. Hérault resident Jaylen Hoard and playmaker Nadir Hifi in turn said goodbye to their chances of participating in the Paris Olympics. This Monday, at 2 p.m., a few hours before challenging Germany again in Montpellier, the staff will announce a final list of 12 players. Sunday evening, according to L’Equipe, Maledon and Okobo left the Hôtel des Bleus in Montpellier, thus ratifying the final list for the Olympics, some hours before the official announcement.

The Strazel Surprise

Inside, the four places will be occupied by Gobert, Wembanyama, Lessort and Yabusele, with the versatility of a Batum. The captains DeColo, Fournier and the nugget Bilal Coulibaly will also be there. It was on positions 1 and 2 that Vincent Collet’s decision was decisive. Ntilikina, Albicy, Strazel and Cordinier obtained the favors of the coach to share playing time.

"There is an intensity that is really very strong in training. I like it because I train like that all the time. So, it's even more challenging and it's cool", explained Andrew Albicy, playmaker with a rather defensive style of play, who, after being forgotten for the last World Cup, will be part of the adventure at home.