MIAMI (United States) \u2013 Argentina enters the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup as the defending champion, after earning the title in the 2022 edition held in Brazil. However, that continental triumph was followed by a major setback: the albiceleste missed out on the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time since 1986, and failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time since 2004.<\/p>\n
Argentina is one of the most successful teams in the Americas and will now aim to bounce back and reclaim its status. Although the squad didn\u2019t dominate in the AmeriCup Qualifiers, they still finished first in Group A with a 4-2 record and showcased several young players who seem ready to step into bigger roles at this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n
Argentina currently ranks eighth in the FIBA World Ranking presented by Nike and third in the Americas, trailing only the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n
Tournament history<\/p>\n
The South Americans are one of four teams that have participated in all 20 editions of the top continental event. They have three titles to their name (2001, 2011, and 2022) and hold the record for most total medals, with 14 overall (6 silver and 5 bronze).<\/p>\n
Players to watch<\/p>\n
Nicol\u00e1s Brussino will be the main reference point with the absence of stars such as Facundo Campazzo, Nicol\u00e1s Laprov\u00edttola, and Gabriel Deck. The forward, who averaged 11.6 points with Spain\u2019s Gran Canaria, will have to take on a leading role in the offense. Although for the Argentine team, collective play has traditionally been a hallmark.<\/p>\n
Big man Juan Fern\u00e1ndez and shooting guard Gonzalo Corbal\u00e1n are among the younger players ready to make a strong impact. Meanwhile, Jos\u00e9 Vildoza is fresh off a championship in Argentina\u2019s league with Boca Juniors. He will have a key role to play in light of the absences. <\/p>\n
Head coach: Pablo Prigioni<\/p>\n
Prigioni made his debut as Argentina\u2019s head coach in 2022 and led the team to an AmeriCup title that same year. As a player, he\u2019s widely regarded as one of the best point guards in Argentina\u2019s history. Since 2017, he\u2019s been developing as a coach with stops at Baskonia in Spain, the Brooklyn Nets staff in the NBA, and since 2019, as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prigioni lifted the AmeriCup trophy in his debut as Argentina\u2019s head coach<\/p>\n
Outlook<\/p>\n
Argentina will compete in Group C, where they will open the tournament against hosts Nicaragua, followed by matchups against Dominican Republic and Colombia. As the reigning champion and a team with a storied history in the Americas, they are always considered a contender. Their preparation was solid, including a tour through Spain, but defending the title won\u2019t be easy given the absence of several key players and the introduction of young, talented players who are still developing.<\/p>\n
Even so, they should not be counted out in the race for a medal\u2026 If there\u2019s one thing that defines Argentina, it\u2019s their competitive pride.<\/p>\n
Last 10 FIBA events<\/p>\n
Year<\/p>\n
Event<\/p>\n
Rank<\/p>\n
2023<\/p>\n
FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023<\/p>\n
2nd<\/p>\n
2022<\/p>\n
FIBA AmeriCup<\/p>\n
1st<\/p>\n
2020<\/p>\n
Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament<\/p>\n
7th<\/p>\n
2019<\/p>\n
FIBA Basketball World Cup<\/p>\n
2nd<\/p>\n
2017<\/p>\n
FIBA AmeriCup<\/p>\n
7th<\/p>\n
2016<\/p>\n
Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament<\/p>\n
8th<\/p>\n
2016<\/p>\n
South American Championship<\/p>\n
4th<\/p>\n
2015<\/p>\n
FIBA AmeriCup<\/p>\n
2nd<\/p>\n
2014<\/p>\n
FIBA Basketball World Cup<\/p>\n
11th<\/p>\n
2014<\/p>\n
South American Championship<\/p>\n
2nd<\/p>\n
FIBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (United States) \u2013 Argentina enters the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup as the defending champion, after earning the title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-68147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}