Katowice – The first day of the quarterfinals are here and no less than 15 former, current, and future NBA players will be participating in the game.

(discuss the France – Spain quarterfinal)

Spain features nine players with NBA affiliations, while France has six players with ties to the NBA.

Everyone already knows the two stars, Spain’s Pau Gasol and France’s Tony Parker.

“France is a hard rival,” Gasol said. “They are undefeated and we need to beat them if we want to progress. They have confidence and good players as well as being more rested than us, but we have to win.”

The Les Bleus – España game will also display the talents of of current NBA players Rudy Fernández and Nicolas Batum (Portland Trailblazers), Boris Diaw (Charlotte Bobcats), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies), Ronny Turiaf (Golden State Warriors), Ian Mahinmi (San Antonio Spurs).

The game also has prospective NBA players in 2009 NBA draft picks Ricky Rubio (#5), Victor Claver (#22), Sergio Llull (#34), and Nando De Colo (#53) and former NBA players in Juan Carlos Navarro, Raúl López, and Jorge Garbajosa, all of Spain.

The game is the second match of the day and is set for 21h00, to be played after the Serbia/Russia game.