TORONTO — Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headlines Canada’s men’s basketball roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifying window. Canada plays Argentina on August 25 in Victoria and then travels to Panama for a game on August 29.
TORONTO — Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headlines Canada’s men’s basketball roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifying window.
Canada plays Argentina on August 25 in Victoria and then travels to Panama for a game on August 29.
Canada Basketball’s 15-man training camp roster for the fourth window includes Utah Jazz’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell and Detroit Pistons’ Kelly Olynyk and Cory Joseph.
RJ Barrett, Khem Birch, Dillon Brooks, Luguentz Dort and Jamal Murray will attend training camp, Aug. 22-24 in Victoria, but will not play in that window.
Canada was the only country in the Americas to go undefeated (6-0) in the first round of the qualifiers, and is in Group E for the second round along with Venezuela (5-1), Argentina (5- 1), Dominican Republic (4-2), Panama (2-4) and Bahamas (2-4).
Gilgeous-Alexander made his first appearance for the national team in six years in the previous qualification window in July. He had 32 points in a 95-75 win against the Dominican Republic in his hometown of Hamilton and 24 points in a 113-67 win over the US Virgin Islands.
Eighty countries are playing in six qualifying periods to secure their place among the 30 who will join hosts Japan and the Philippines at next summer’s 32-team FIBA World Cup, which is a direct qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics a year later.
In this second round, the 12 teams from America will be divided into two groups of six. The top three from each group plus the best fourth-placed team will secure World Cup places.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup is from August 25 to September 10, 2023 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Canada is currently ranked 18th in FIBA.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 18, 2022.
The Canadian Press