Which international prospects could make headlines at the FIBA World Cup like Luka Doncic did at Eurobasket with Slovenia six years ago?
Without star power at this summer's FIBA World Cup, it will be a tournament full of opportunity. Countries that have never gotten a gold medal could win one, and players who few have heard of could make their mark and quickly become household names.
Rising stars are always on display at FIBA tournaments, and this summer will be no different. A few players have been drafted already, and their rights are owned by NBA teams.
Others went undrafted, but are still in the early stages of their career.
Another future star could very well be in the 2024 NBA draft class and take his draft stock to a whole new level with a strong performance in the Philippines.
The stage is set for all five of these players to make an impact and if they do, we could see them in an NBA jersey sooner rather than later.
Here are five international prospects who could have standout performances at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
2023 FIBA World Cup: Rokas Jokubaitis is a player to watch
Rokas Jokubaitis could one day be the perfect backup point guard to Jalen Brunson for the New York Knicks. He's also left-handed, has good balance and strength, is fearless, and is a solid pick-and-roll point guard.
For Lithuania this summer, he will shoulder the bulk of ball-handling responsibilities. The absence of Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis will also leave the Lithuanians with a lot of scoring to make up, and Jokubaitis could be just the guy to fill the void.
Jokubaitis has been a role player at Barcelona for the past two seasons, and his stats hardly jump off the page. But that's mainly because he's had to compete with Tomas Satoransky and Nicolas Laprovittola for playing time.
That's not the case with Lithuania, as Jokubaitis is clearly their best point guard, and that will make this summer the ideal setting for him to put his talent on display and maybe earn himself an NBA call-up in the future.
2023 FIBA World Cup: Minnesota Timberwolves stash Matteo Spagnolo
After being drafted late in the second round by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2022, Matteo Spagnolo had a strong season with Trento where he averaged 12.21 points per game and 3.38 assists per game.
The 20-year-old then played for the Minnesota Timberwolves this past summer and will be suiting up for Italy at the FIBA World Cup where he will have a lot of chances to show off his skills.
The Italians have a lot of forwards and wings, but not much of anything else. They are particularly hurting at the point guard position where the best they have to offer currently is former Golden State Warrior Nico Mannion.
Thus, expect the 6-foot-6 Spagnolo to try his hand at running the show. Whether he's successful or not, it'll be a good setup for his season ahead where he'll be in a similar situation for German Euroleague club Alba Berlin.
The sheer amount of on-ball reps he'll receive over this month and the following season will certainly make the Timberwolves front office happy.
2023 FIBA World Cup: Jean Montero helped the Dominican Republic qualify
The Dominican Republic team could be the story of the tournament this summer, and young guard Jean Montero is a big part of that.
For starters, you could argue they wouldn't be here without him.
Also, Montero just had a stellar season in Spain's ACB with Real Betis. He averaged 17.62 points per game, 4.31 assists per game, and shot 35% from three. He is only 20 years old and went undrafted in 2022 after playing for Overtime Elite.
With the majority of opposing defenses focusing on the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Al Horford, Chris Duarte, and Lester Quinones there will be a surplus of open looks for Montero to knock down or attack.
A strong showing this summer could help him land a more lucrative European contract, or perhaps an NBA two-way contract.
2023 FIBA World Cup: Could Nikos Rogkavopoulos fill the Giannis Antetokounmpo-sized scoring hole for Greece?
Greece used to boast some of the greatest pick-and-roll point guards the game has ever seen. Theo Papaloukas, Dimitris Diamantidis, and Vassilis Spanoulis to name a few.
Those days are long gone, though, and their FIBA World Cup roster is a prime example of that. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kostas Sloukas, or even Nick Calathes the Greeks will be depending on Thomas Walkup to run their offense.
Head coach Dimitrios Itoudis has a deep bag of tricks that European basketball fans are well aware of, but even he might be flummoxed by this squad's lack of creativity.
This roster will open the door for players to fire away and have more freedom than usual to try to make an impact on offense. One player who could thrive under these circumstances is Nikos Rogkavopoulos.
Just 22 years old, Rogkavopoulos went undrafted this summer and will be hungry to show NBA front offices that was a mistake.
The 6-foot-8 sniper played for Merkezefendi Belediyesi Denizli Basket in Turkey last season and averaged 15.46 points per game, 6.25 rebounds per game, and shot 36% from three on 177 attempts.
His game has some similarities to last season's Euroleague MVP and now Sacramento Kings rookie Sasha Vezenkov.
It would behoove Itoudis to give Rogkavopoulos a lot of opportunities because if he gets hot, he could give them a chance to cause a real upset.
2023 FIBA World Cup: 19-year-old Juan Nunez has already shown he's ready to rise to the occasion
At one point, Spain's point guard rotation was Jose Calderon, Ricky Rubio, Sergio Rodriguez, and Sergio Llull, an amount of talent that even the United States was jealous of at times.
For the upcoming FIBA World Cup though, only Llull is on the preliminary roster and he's now 35 years old.
It is obvious to everyone that Spain's golden generation is long gone, regardless of how many offensive rebounds the geriatric Rudy Fernandez chases down. The new talent hasn't lived up to that level either.
But 19-year-old Juan Nunez might be able to change that.
Nunez came up through Real Madrid's basketball academy but opted to pursue more playing time in the summer of 2022 and joined the German club, Ratiopharm Ulm. His playing time went up, a lot.
He got to nearly 20 minutes per game for Ulm and averaged 7.84 points per game and 4.28 assists per game as a backup to Brazilian point guard Yago Dos Santos.
Nunez's shooting numbers for the season don't look great, 32% on 113 attempts, and members of Ulm's coaching staff have highlighted his overall improvement since the turn of the new year.
Just last week, Nunez got to start in Spain's warm-up game against Team USA and while he wasn't perfect, he certainly wasn't afraid of the challenge either.
He finished with 8 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds and picked up Jalen Brunson with full-court pressure for most of the game.
Nunez isn't even in some folks' 2024 mock drafts currently, but a solid FIBA World Cup and another good season in Germany could change that.
