The Chinese men's national basketball team probables are currently training in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. They will travel to Europe on Thursday to play a series of warm-up games as part of preparations for the coming FIBA Basketball World Cup. Eighteen players are in Qingdao, but only 12 will appear in the World Cup.

The players held an open training session on Monday. Coach Aleksandar Djordjevic and multiple players answered questions raised by reporters over their latest practice.

"It's the best recognition of our abilities by coach Djordjevic that we are able to attend the training camp," point guard Fang Shuo said. "This is the first time I have been invited by the Chinese national team, since 2019. I communicated with Djordjevic before coming here. He wanted me to make some contributions as a point guard, like connecting teammates, moving without the ball for offensive chances and take some shots when I see them."

China will play Slovenia, Germany and Italy in Europe. All of them are strong opponents. Djordjevic hopes the players can get better used to competitions with top teams in the world and prepare better for the World Cup.

"They are all strong opponents we will play in Europe this time,"center Zhou Qi told reporters. "It will be a great opportunity for us to face these teams to improve our form before the World Cup. It will help us prepare for the tournament."

The World Cup will take place between August 25 and September 10 in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. China are in Group B with Serbia, Puerto Rico and South Sudan. The tournament is also a qualification event for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. The best-performing Asian team will secure an automatic berth to the Olympics.

"We can feel the World Cup is coming early this year," two-way player Zhao Jiwei said in the interview. "Djordjevic wants me to do what a guard does, both on the court and in life, to pay more attention to teammates' details of playing and remind them to play by plan.”

 "We have been competing with each other within the team in a positive way," forward Zeng Fanbo said. "We are motivated by each other's performance and make each other better. We help each other, both on and off the court."