Rodrigue Beaubois in Blue, a story of missed appointments. The 35-year-old back guard has flirted with the France team for a long time, without ever having been able to celebrate his first cap until now. Vincent Collet has sometimes forgotten this. The main party also and above all refused to participate in certain campaigns. And there were the withdrawals, due to injury as before the 2010 World Cup, or for “personal reasons”, as before the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. “The French team is surely the only thing missing from my career », he said at the beginning of the year, at the microphone of Skweek. However, this does not mean that we saw “Roddy” at the 2023 World Cup, although “hoped for” by the staff according to L’Équipe.
Is 2024 finally the right one? After the failure of 2023 in Jakarta, and this elimination in the first round, the cards will be reshuffled in view of the Paris Olympics, and this is particularly true for the position of playmaker and at the back, even if the staff didn’t move. One thing is certain: Beaubois is a candidate for a place among the 12. With a few “ifs” along the way. “If things go well, I’m up for it,” the Anadolu Efes Istanbul player promised this Tuesday, on Skweek, after his club’s victory on the Monaco floor (82-89) in the Euroleague. I’m saying it officially. Afterwards, the season is long, we are lucky to have a lot of talent in France. The coach has a choice. If things are good this summer, I’m in and I’m saying it loud and clear.
Trained in Cholet then spent time in the NBA and Dallas (2009-13), where he notably scored a 40-point game in 2010 and participated in winning the title alongside Dirk Nowitzki and Frenchman Ian Mahinmi, in 2011, Beaubois has been playing in Europe for around ten years, successively wearing the jerseys of Charleroi, Le Mans, Strasbourg and Vitoria. He joined Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2018, notably with two Euroleague crowns in 2021 and 2022, he who lost 21 points in Monaco this Tuesday. “I’m focused on winning, that’s the most important thing. And this one is very important! We showed good things, we fought from start to finish. We have to continue playing like this if we want to aspire to great things this season. It’s a very big victory for us, we will enjoy it and concentrate as quickly as possible on the next match,” he said. And on 2024 also a priori.