After being eliminated in the knockout stage of EuroBasket 2015, the Slovenian team needs to compete for the next championship through qualifications, which will begin on 31 August. Slovenia's opponents are Ukraine, Bulgaria and Kosovo. During preparations, which start on 20 August, Slovenian players will play nine friendly matches, six of which will be organised in Slovenia. The match against Macedonia will be played behind closed doors at the Maribor Arena. Portugal, Belgium and Bosna and Herzegovina will play in Celje, while the United Kingdom and Montenegro will come to Ljubljana. Austria will host Slovenian duels against its own team as well as Poland and Iceland. The tempo will be fast – Wednesdays and Saturdays, as is also the case in qualifications.

15 players will kick off Slovenia's preparations and will be joined by Jaka Blažič and Gašper Vidmar – who is returning to the team after being absent for two years due to injuries – five days later. Goran Dragić, who is on the receiving end of great expectations, will arrive on 1 August, as permitted by the NBA League. Vlatko Čančar, Luka Kraljević and Žan Mark Šiško, who still play for the junior national team, will also join at the same time as Dragić.

Overall, the team has been rejuvenated, but is still missing Luka Dončić, a very talented player who plays for Real Madrid. Despite speculations that the 17-year-old Ljubljana-born talent would play his first match for the Slovenian team, he decided to make other duties a priority. "I talked to Luka Dončić. I told him I was disappointed [about his decision not to participate], but not angry. It was his call to make," explained Igor Kokoškov, the head coach of Slovenia.

Another great hopeful of Slovenia's basketball, Blaž Mesiček, is absent due to an injury, and the same goes for Aleksej Nikolić, a young player in the Euroleague, who has problems with his ankle.

Tilen Jamnik, MMC; translated by K. Z.