VILNIUS (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Lithuania will take on 11 different national teams and play in 14 friendly games overall as part of their preparations for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Nine of their opponents in the warm-up period will be among the 24 sides at the World Cup in Spain, which tips off 30 August.

Among their friendly rivals will be Australia and Slovenia, teams they will play in their Group D games in Gran Canaria.

Lithuania's senior team will have training camps in Palanga, Kaunas, Siauliai, Panevezys, Vilnius, Finland, Klaipeda and Croatia.

On 28 August, they will arrive in Gran Canaria where in addition to Australia and Slovenia, they will also take on Angola, Mexico and Korea in Group D.

Coach Jonas Kazlauskas has dismissed media reports that veterans Linas Kleiza and Martynas Pocius may skip the World Cup.

The two were lynchpins in the natonal side that reached the podium at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, at the 2012 Olympics in London and at last year's EuroBasket in Slovenia.

"I spoke with Martynas at Zalgiris," Kazlauskas said, "(Lithuanian Basketball Federation President) Arvydas (Sabonis) has gone to Istanbul and had interaction with Kleiza at Fenerbahce.

"The response was - they want to play and will play, if not prevented by injury."

Kazlauskas, who was speaking at a press conference in Vilnius, was asked about the possibility of veteran Sarunas Jasikevicius being at the World Cup.

Jasikevicius, the EuroBasket 2003 MVP and four-time Olympian, is one of the country's all-time greats but is now 38 years of age.

"Now, it's too early to talk about the nominees," Kazlauskas said.

At the same press conference, the coach sung the praises of youngsters Domas Sabonis, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Donatas Motiejunas.

The latter two were in last year's EuroBasket squad, while 17-year-old Sabonis has impressed this season in the Euroleague with Kuzminskas at Unicaja.

Unicaja recently announced that Sabonis was leaving Europe to become a student/athlete at Gonzaga University in the United States.

As for the dates of the friendlies, Lithuania will first host Baltic neighbors Latvia in the Siauliai Arena 26 July and then square off against Georgia in Panevezys (28 July) and Vilnius (30 July).

The No. 4 side in the FIBA Ranking Men will then travel to Helsinki to face Finland 4 August in a friendly that will mark the 75th anniversary of the Finnish Basketball Association and the Finland national team.

The Lithuanians will return home for games against Ukraine, the Finns and Australians in Klaipeda before taking on Greece (16 August), New Zealand (17 August) and Slovenia at Zalgiris Arena.

After returning to Ljubljana - where they finished runners-up at last year's EuroBasket - to play Brazil (21 August), Iran (22 August) and Slovenia (23 August), Lithuania will take a short trip to Zagreb and compete against Croatia in their last friendly before the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

FIBA