Report: Nico Mannion to play for Italy in Olympic qualifying tournament

Golden State Warriors guard Nico Mannion will reportedly play for Italy in the Olympic qualifying tournament this month in Belgrade, Serbia, according to Sportando.

The Italy men’s basketball team will participate from June 29 to July 4, along with the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal and Serbia. Each country will play three games before the top four teams advance to a tournament.

The winner will claim one of four remaining spots in the Tokyo Olympics.

Preliminary play in basketball in the Olympics, which will feature 12 teams spread across three groups, will begin July 25 and run through Aug. 2. The quarterfinals will start on Aug. 3 and consist of the top two teams in each group from the preliminary phase.

The semifinals will take place on Aug. 5 with the gold and bronze medal games on Aug. 7.

Mannion, who was born in Tuscany, became the fourth-youngest Italian (17) to play with the national team in 2018 at the European qualifiers in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. He recorded nine points during his lone game in a loss to the Netherlands.

The 20-year-old just wrapped up his rookie season in the NBA with the Warriors, averaging 4.1 points, 2.3 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 30 games. His best game of the season came on March 25 when he recorded a career-high 19 points in a loss to the Sacramento Kings.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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