Queta Lights Up Riga, Putting Portugal Back on EuroBasket Map

He might be a familiar face from your NBA League Pass, yet it took a Riga night in late August for many expatriates in Portugal to understand why Neemias Queta has become the country’s most talked-about athlete. Portugal’s men’s team, absent from elite European basketball since 2011, has returned with a headline-grabbing win, and the 2.13 m center from Barreiro is suddenly carrying not only a roster but a nation’s sporting self-image. As the group phase rolls on, Queta’s performance is reshaping expectations—for the tournament and for Portugal’s place on the continental sports map.

A seven-footer rewriting history

Riga’s Olympic Sports Centre erupted when the scoreboard froze at 62-50 against the Czech Republic, not least because Queta’s stat line—23 points, 18 rebounds, 4 blocks, 39 efficiency, 65 % shooting, 75 % at the stripe, 20+15 debut, first since 1995—read like a curator’s list of rare artefacts. Local fans chanted his name in Portuguese, an unusual sound in Latvia, while visiting supporters shared videos across social feeds under the hashtag #Quetamania. Analysts quickly noted that no Portuguese international had ever dominated the garrafão—the painted area—so thoroughly on this stage.

The long road back to Europe’s main stage

Portugal’s absence from EuroBasket stretched 14 years, a period during which the country’s domestic league fought financial austerity, two pandemic seasons and the outflow of young talent to Spain and France. The current squad reached Riga by upsetting higher-ranked Israel and Georgia during qualifiers, but bookmakers still placed them outside the top-20. Queta’s arrival has altered that arithmetic. With Group A games against Serbia, Turkey, Latvia and Estonia still pending, Portugal must finish in the top-4 to see the Round of 16—an outcome now labelled “plausible” by FIBA’s predictive model, up from “unlikely” a month ago.

From Boston bench to national centrepiece

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla used Queta for 13.9 minutes a night last NBA season, asking him to set screens and crash the boards behind Al Horford. In the red-and-green jersey, the same player is running post-ups, dictating double-teams and even stepping out for the occasional three. His per-36-minute NBA numbers—13.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks—hinted at such productivity all along; EuroBasket simply offers the possessions to prove it. Queta has told reporters he wants to be “a vocal leader”, pushing teammates such as Diogo Brito, Tomas Barroso and NCAA prospect Rafael Lisboa to speed up in transition so that “defences cannot build a wall around me”.

The nuts and bolts: insurance, minutes and the 28-day clock

Every NBA player at EuroBasket travels under a joint NBA–FIBA insurance umbrella that caps medical coverage at €20,000 and limits national-team duty to 28 days. According to federation officials, the FPB filed Queta’s paperwork in early July; Boston approved on the condition that the medical staff in Riga share daily reports. No bespoke add-on policy was required because the center’s salary still falls under the threshold where teams often seek additional guarantees. As of Friday, Queta has spent 22 days with the squad—tight timing that will require cautious load management if Portugal progresses beyond the group phase.

What tonight’s clash with Serbia means

Friday’s tip-off at 19:15 Lisbon time puts Queta opposite Nikola Jokić’s understudy, Marko Pecarski, in what Serbian outlets are calling a “trap game”. Serbia remains the gold-standard exporter of big men, yet their current roster lacks the NBA star-power of previous editions. A Portuguese win would almost seal a knockout berth and could thrust Queta into MVP chatter—particularly with Turkey looming just 24 hours later. Coaching staff say they will again funnel possessions through their NBA champion but expect “mixed defences” from Serbia designed to force him into short-roll decisions rather than post-ups.

Should expats care? Economic and cultural spin-offs

Lisbon sports bars have begun advertising EuroBasket happy hours, and the FPB reports a 23 % spike this week in online merchandise orders from UK and German addresses. Property agents in Barreiro, Queta’s hometown across the Tagus, are using his rise to pitch the district as “the cradle of Portuguese basketball”. For foreigners living here, the story offers a primer on how quickly a small market can rally around global talent—and how that momentum trickles into everything from tourism campaigns to after-school programmes your children might join. If you needed a conversation starter with your Portuguese neighbour, Queta’s double-double in Riga just handed you one.