Rumours concerning his readiness have been circulating for some time, and he had yet to appear in Latvia's warm-up sequence of matches, but on Tuesday Porziņģis took to social media to confirm that he was unable to play in the tournament.
Ir grūti, es jūtos ļoti atbildīgs savu un Latvijas valstsvienības atbalstītāju priekšā, taču ir pieņemts lēmums, ka es nespēlēšu Pasaules kausā.
— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) August 15, 2023
Pēc vairāku nedēļu atlabšanas procesa un atkārtota MRI izmeklējuma, vēl joprojām pēdas plantārais fascīts man neļauj atrasties uz… pic.twitter.com/mvyk4Dj8lU
"It is difficult, I feel responsibility to myself and the supporters of the Latvian national team, but a decision has been made that I will not play in the World Cup," said Porziņģis, explaining that a foot injury would prevent him taking the court.
"Such a decision is not easy to make, but I promise that I will be there and support the team as much as I can," he added.
The Latvian national team will play its next warm-up match in the World Cup preparation stage on Wednesday, August 16, against Finland. The match will be shown live here on LSM and on LTV7 within Latvia.
Shortly before the flight to Taiwan, where the last two test matches will be held, the circle of candidates for the national team will be narrowed down to 14 basketball players, while the World Cup dozen will be named at the last minute.
The finals of the World Cup will take place from August 25 to September 10 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. The Latvian national team will start the final tournament in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
