Injured Ntilikina out of France squad for World Cup

NBA star Frank Ntilikina has been ruled out of France’s bid to win the World Cup because of a thigh injury, the French Basketball Federation announced on Saturday.

Ntilikina, who left Dallas Mavericks last week to join Charlotte Hornets, was injured late in Friday’s warm-up match against Lithuania.

“His injury does not offer guarantees of a satisfactory recovery in time for the start of the World Cup on Friday August 25,” the Federation said in a statement.

The 25-year-old point guard is the second NBA star to drop out in two days following Giannis Antetokounmpo’s announcement on Friday that he had not recovered quickly enough from a thigh injury to join up with Greece.

France opens its Group H games against Canada in Jakarta before taking on Latvia and Lebanon.