Serbia men's national basketball team

1995–2002: Golden generation

Without much sponsorship for the war-impoverished country, the national team made its comeback to the international scene at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, where it won the gold medal; after defeating Lithuania in the final. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, the team lost 69–95 to the United States in the gold-medal game. After the defeat, the national team would go on to claim the gold medal in their next two international competitions, EuroBasket 1997 and the 1998 FIBA World Cup; while winning the bronze medal at EuroBasket 1999 and reclaiming gold once again at the EuroBasket 2001.

One of the most notable wins for the Yugoslavia national team came in the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup, where the host nation of the tournament, the United States was eliminated 81–78.^[19] The significance of the win was tremendous for the Serbian people in general, as the public in Serbia perceived the United States political leadership responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia, and destruction of the country's infrastructure; as well as civil victims during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.^[20] Thereafter, the Yugoslavia national team went on to win the competition, by defeating New Zealand in the semi-finals and Argentina in the final 84–77 in OT to win the gold medal.^[19]

2003–2006: Underwhelming results

In 2002, FR Yugoslavia consisted of the states of Serbia and Montenegro. The merged nations came to a new agreement regarding continued co-operation, which, among other changes, promised the end of the name Yugoslavia. On 4 February 2003, the federal assembly of Yugoslavia created a loose state union—the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The following years were underwhelming as the national team failed to make the podium at international tournaments, after decades of winning medals.

At the EuroBasket 2003, the team came in sixth place, but due to their world champion status, were automatically qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Entering 2004, the national team participated in the less important Diamond Ball tournament, prior to the 2004 Olympic Games where they won the gold medal. Although the team was unable to carry over the momentum heading into the Olympics, and were eliminated in the group stage with a (1–4) record, finishing in 11th place.

After two consecutive tournament disappointments, hopes of getting back on the podium returned for the EuroBasket 2005 where Serbia and Montenegro was the host nation. Heading into the tournament, Željko Obradović was brought back for a second stint as head coach of the national team. However, they were eliminated in the play-off stage by France 74–71, and finished in ninth place. After the tournament, Obradović stepped down, and blamed a bad atmosphere among the team's star players for the failure. The team then participated at the 2006 FIBA World Cup on a wild card, due to the results in the past on the initiative by FIBA prominent administrator Borislav Stanković. Although the national team of Serbia and Montenegro came up short once again, with another ninth-place finish.

On 21 May 2006, Montenegrins voted in an independence referendum, with 55.5% supporting independence. The subsequent Montenegrin proclamation of independence in June 2006 and the Serbian proclamation of independence on 5 June ended the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and thus the last remaining vestiges of the former Yugoslavia.

2006–2009

Following the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the national team participated at the EuroBasket 2007. There, the team finished the competition failing to make it out of the group stage after three close losses. The result failed to qualify the team for the 2008 Summer Olympics, which was their first time missing the Olympic tournament after missing it in 1992 due to suspension.

In December 2007, the legendary Dušan Ivković hinted that he would take the helm as head coach of the national team.^[21]

2009–2013: Flashes of old glory

Under Ivković's coaching, a new generation of players led by Nenad Krstić and Miloš Teodosić returned some of the old glory by taking the silver medal at Eurobasket 2009. At the 2010 FIBA World Cup, after narrowly defeating Croatia in the Round of 16, Miloš Teodosić hit a deep three-point shot to upset the favourites of the tournament Spain in the quarter-finals.^[22] Entering the semis, Serbia would come up short, after a controversial referee's error to the tournament's host Turkey 83–82.^[22] With the youngest team in the competition, Serbia eventually finished in fourth place after losing to Lithuania 99–88 in the bronze-medal game.^[22][23]

At the EuroBasket 2011, the team failed to reach the semi-finals, finishing the tournament in eighth place; thus failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the EuroBasket 2013, the team was once again eliminated in the quarter-finals and finished in seventh place.

2013–2019: Silver generation

Following the EuroBasket 2013, Ivković stepped away from the position, and Serbian basketball hall of famer Aleksandar Đorđević stepped into his place.^[24]

Đorđević led the team to the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, where they lost in the final to the United States.^[25][26] At the EuroBasket 2015, Serbia finished in fourth place, with their only tournament loses coming in the semi-finals to Lithuania and in the bronze-medal game to France.

After winning the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Belgrade, the national team won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, losing in the final to the United States.^[27][28]

With the absence of team captains Miloš Teodosić, and Nikola Jokić, rising star Bogdan Bogdanović emerged as team leader at the EuroBasket 2017. The national team went on to earn their third silver medal in four years, after falling to a Goran Dragić-led Slovenia 93–85 in the final.^[29]

Facing a different qualification system introduced by FIBA for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the national team was forced to play without their key players in nearly all of their qualification matches. However, they narrowly secured the last spot for the World Cup in their second round qualification group.^[30] Prior the World Cup, Serbia was dubbed as one of the favourites to win the tournament;^[31] but was eventually defeated in the quarter-finals by Argentina.^[32] With the team relegated to the classification phase, they would pick up wins against the United States and Czech Republic to finish in fifth place.^[33][34][35] After the tournament, head coach Đorđević announced his decision to leave the position after six years.^[36]

2019–2021

Under head coach Igor Kokoškov, Serbia failed to qualify to the 2020 Summer Olympics after losing in the final game of the Qualifying Tournament to Italy before home crowd.

2021–present

In 2021, legendary head coach Svetislav Pešić took over the team once again. In Pešić' first tournament as head coach, after winning all five group matches at the EuroBasket 2022, Italy upset Serbia in Round of 16 with 94–86 and Serbia finished in ninth place. At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, despite absence of several star players, Serbia managed to reach the tournament final where they lost to the Germany.^[37] Serbia won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics after defeating Germany with 93–83.^[38]