Montenegro has announced the 12-player roster of the national team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup that is only two days away. Their head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic seemed to like the squad that helped the team pass through the qualifiers, influencing his decision to take the core group of those players to China.

The list goes as follows:

Milko Bjelica (forward), Aleksa Popovic (forward), Suad Sehovic (guard), Bojan Dubljevic (forward), Petar Popovic (guard), Nemanja Radovic (forward), Nikola Ivanovic (guard), Dino Radoncic (forward), Marko Todorovic (forward), Derek Needham (guard), Sead Sehovic (guard), Nikola Vucevic (center)

Ivanovic and Dubljevic will be two key members of Montenegro at the World Cup. The former dropped 14 points and a team-high 4.8 assists during the qualifiers while the latter, like other big men from the Balkan Peninsula, has complete skills in both offense and defense.

Of course the team's biggest star is still Vucevic, who just finished an incredible season with the NBA's Orlando Magic. In the 80 games he played, Vucevic averaged 20.8 points, 12 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.1 blocks, all career-highs. Not only did he play the first NBA All-Star game, but also he led the Magic back to the playoffs after seven years. In this summer, Vucevic also signed a four-year, 100-million-U.S.-dollar deal with the Magic.

The last time Vucevic played for Montenegro in FIBA competition was at the EuroBasket 2017. This time, he will join his teammates for their country's debut trip at the World Cup.

However, what awaits them there will be no picnic. Montenegro are in Group F with Brazil, New Zealand, and a Greece team led by 2019 NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

"There was talk of New Zealand as an outsider, and they beat Italy, and they played great against Serbia and France. Brazil [head to the tournament] almost without defeats in their warm-up games and Greece are medal candidates. We are in an extremely difficult group, that is obvious, and our attitude is the same. We are preparing for every game and we will try to give the maximum," said coach Mitrovic.

Montenegro will meet their first opponent Greece at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Games Park on September 1.