Slovenia will take on Poland in the opening game of EuroBasket 2017 in Helsinki on Thursday. This year’s EuroBasket will be Dragić’s last. “I’m calm for now, but that is bound to change on September 6 when we’re up against France. But regardless of the outcome, the time has come for me to say goodbye. I don’t really want to talk about that now because the championship hasn’t even begun yet. It’s important for us to start strong and win the opening game, and then we’ll take it from there. We all know how important it is to win the first game. If you win the opening fixture, you stand a good chance to qualify for the play-offs,” said Slovenia’s team captain.

The Slovenian team has just finished a six-week training camp. Due to his obligations to the NBA, Dragić joined his teammates in early August. Now, the countdown has begun to the first game of the championship in Helsinki, Finland. "I’m no longer accustomed to these six-week training camps, so I can hardly wait for EuroBasket to begin. We arrived in Helsinki on Monday at 11 p.m., and we had two training sessions on Tuesday. I like the Hartwall Arena, the hoops are good, and our training sessions went well,” Goran Dragić said.

Poland will be Slovenia’s first opponent. Even though the team lacks star power – their best player, Marcin Gortat, retired from the national team after EuroBasket 2015 – they showed during the EuroBasket warm-up tournament that they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Tilen Jamnik; translated by D. V.