Miami Heat power forward Nemanja Bjelica voiced his displeasure to the media after his Serbian national basketball team failed to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
“If I don’t say it’s a big shame the way we lost the game, I will lie to you,” Bjelica said during his press conference after the team was eliminated from Olympic contention. “I wasn’t ready to play today. I don’t think that’s important.”
The team fell one win short of qualifying.
“We played like s—, and the better team won tonight,” he added later on. “With this attitude, we can’t play basketball. I don’t want to talk about pressure, but if you’re not 100 percent here, you cannot win. I can apologize to our people. Our attitude has to change. I’m happy to be part of this team. In five years, we’ll be gone. Talent can’t win you games in this type of tournament. I will take responsibility as a player.”
Participating in the Olympics is a big deal for a lot of NBA players. Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic even went as far as to say that winning an Olympic gold medal would mean more to him than winning an NBA title.
Bjelica will unfortunately not get the chance to be part of the event this time around.
Bjelica has never been a star player in the NBA, but he has had some solid all-around seasons. He appeared in 11 games for the Heat in the 2020-21 season and averaged 5.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
The best season of the 33-year-old’s career so far came during his 2019-20 campaign with the Sacramento Kings. That year, he averaged 11.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
The next time the Olympics roll around, Bjelica’s best years will likely be behind him.
