The Wizards guard has played solid ball so far and is in a good position to make the final team.
The France men’s national basketball team will be hosting the 2024 Olympics in Lille, and eventually, Paris. While the Washington Wizards don’t have a player on an Olympic team, yet. But if anyone does, it will be guard Bilal Coulibaly.
Les Bleus began their friendly schedule last Wednesday against Turkey (or Turquie in le français). They won 96-46 over the Turks in Rouen, home of former Wizards center Ian Mahinmi and Joan of Arc, but I digress.
While much of the attention fell on San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama, Coulibaly was also praised for his defense in the game. He scored 6 points in 15 minutes of action. Given that any basketball team can use a defense-first player like Coulibaly, there’s a good chance that he will make the final roster, but we also need to see how they do against tougher competition.
France then played Germany (Allemagne) on Saturday, winning 90-66 on the road in Cologne against the defending FIBA World Cup champions. Wembanyama scored 25 points and is definitely making the final squad. Coulibaly added 8 points and played 18 minutes against a tougher squad that included Dennis Schroder though they were also missing several contributors. You can see the highlights of that game below.
France still has several more friendlies before playing their Olympic schedule. They will play Germany again on Monday at 2 p.m. ET (or 8 p.m. Central European Time), this time at home in Montpellier. You can watch the games here in Les États-Unis on NBA.com or the NBA’s YouTube channel. The rest of Les Bleu’s pre-Olympic schedule can be found here.