Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will play for Greece in the coming pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in July, the Greek national team's head coach Vassilis Spanoulis told reporters on Sunday.

Greece, one of the traditional basketball powerhouses in Europe, haven't appeared in the Summer Olympic Games since 2008. They lost in the second group stage at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023 and, thus, failed to secure automatic qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Greece will host one of the four pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments. They are in Group B with Egypt and the Dominican Republic in the preliminary round. Slovenia, New Zealand and Croatia are in Group A of the tournament.

Antetokounmpo, in his 11th NBA season during the 2023-24 campaign, averaged 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game for the bucks during the regular season. Such incredible performances enabled him to be selected into both the All-Star Game for the eighth straight time and the All-NBA First Team for the sixth consecutive time. The Bucks began the playoffs as No. 3 in the Eastern Conference with a 49-33 record.

However, Antetokounmpo suffered a left soleus strain on April 9 and hasn't played since then, including missing the first-round playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks lost that series 4-2 in the end.

"The day of Game 4 in Indiana, that was the first time I was able to jog on my body weight since April 9," Antetokounmpo said in May. "So, I think I tried my best to come back to help my teammates. It's kind of hard to see them being out there and not being able to help them. But I just couldn't. I did all the tests I had to do, like these protocols you have to follow and have to check the boxes, and I wasn't even close (to) checking the boxes."