Great Britain star Pops Mensah-Bonsu is not going to recover in time from a shoulder operation to play at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

The ASVEL Villeurbanne/Lyon man, who got hurt at the start of the LNB play-offs, underwent surgery and was not in the 17-man preliminary squad announced by British Basketball on Wednesday. Britain have lost a player that averaged 19.3 points and a Division A best 13.5 rebounds per game during their Division A campaign.

Mensah-Bonsu said: “I am very disappointed to not be participating in this summer’s activities with the GB team.

“But I am also confident in the coaches and the players representing GB, and I know that they will do the country proud.

“Although it will be difficult to watch, I will be supporting the team along the way, hoping and praying for the best.”

Mensah-Bonsu will be hoping to return to the court next season and be healthy when Britain play in the London Olympics.

Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are two of the prominent names in the Great Britain squad announced on Wednesday, along with emerging Spanish ACB stars Joel Freeland of Unicaja Malaga and Dan Clark of Estudiantes.

Great Britain will play in Group A with Spain, Turkey, hosts Lithuania, Poland and one of the two teams that comes through the Additional Qualifying Round – Portugal, Finland or Hungary.

Great Britain squads: Kieron Achara, Ogo Adegboye, Robert Archibald, Eric Boateng, Flinder Boyd, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Dan Clark, Luol Deng, Laurence Ekperigin, Joel Freeland, Ben Gordon, Ashley Hamilton, James Jones, Mike Lenzly, Nate Reinking, Justin Robinson and Andrew Sullivan.

Source: FIBA Europe