The Italian Basketball Federation announced Tuesday Andrea Bargnani will not play for his country in Eurobasket next month because of his bout with pneumonia.
In a statement released on its website, the federation said though Bargnani’s condition has improved considerably over the past few days, it hadn’t improved to the point he would be able to recover completely in time for the start of the tournament, which begins Sept. 4 in Slovenia.
The Knicks power forward became ill after joining up with the national team for training camp ahead of the tournament. His absence will be a huge blow to the team’s chances of competing in Eurobasket. The Italians already are without former Knick Danilo Gallinari, recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season with the Nuggets.
Bargnani likely would have been the team’s leading scorer, and potentially could have used the tournament to springboard into his first season in New York.
“It’s 100 percent [playing in the tournament] will help him for next year,’’ Team Italy associate head coach Mario Fioretti told The Post this month. “I think he came in shape and put himself in position to take this challenge.”
Bargnani, the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, is hoping to rebound with the Knicks after they acquired him from Toronto for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, Quentin Richardson, a 2016 first-round pick and two future second- round picks this offseason. He averaged 12.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 35 games last season for Toronto, but has missed 82 games over the past two seasons because of a variety of injuries.
For his career, Bargnani has averaged 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and also is a career 36 percent shooter from behind the 3-point arc.
“We’ve got to be cautious of that and make sure we nurse him back before we put him back out on the basketball floor,” coach Mike Woodson said last week of Bargnani’s recovery from pneumonia.