Canada’s World Cup roster is missing star power

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Canada Basketball announced its roster for the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup and it’s missing a lot of star power.

Cory Joseph of the Kings and Khem Birch of the Magic are the only NBA players on the roster, which also includes Florida point guard Andrew Nembhard.

Among the big names missing are Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, Jamal Murray, Kelly Olynyk, R.J. Barrett and more.

If Canada ever got all of its NBA guys on one team, they could contend for a medal, but the stars didn’t align for this event.

“Playing for your country is one of the greatest honours in sport and the players are fully committed to giving everything they have for Canada,” Canadian coach Nick Nurse said.  “I’m proud of the group of players we’ve selected to represent Canada at the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup.”

If Canada ever got all of its NBA guys on one roster, look out. But it won’t happen for this World Cup. pic.twitter.com/28nguYRs0e

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) August 30, 2019

Canada is heading back to the World Cup for the first time since the 2010 FIBA World Championship after finishing the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers with a 10-2 record to lead Group F.  

This will be Canada’s 14^th appearance at the World Cup.  The country’s highest placement in the tournament was back-to-back sixth place finishes in 1978 and 1982.

Canada is in Group H for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and will face Australia (September 1, 3:30 AM ET), Lithuania (September 3, 7:30 AM ET) and Senegal (September 5, 3:30 AM ET) in the First Round.  Click here for the competition schedule.

“Training camp and exhibition games against other international federations have been an important opportunity for us to further evaluate our team,” said Rowan Barrett, RJ’s father and the General Manager, Men’s High Performance. “We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and are excited for the challenge as we represent Canada”.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China (Aug. 31-Sept. 15, 2019) will be the biggest edition of FIBA’s flagship event with a record 32 participating teams playing 92 games over 16 days.

For the first time, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will qualify seven teams directly for the following year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Canada must finish either first or second in the Americas zone to earn a direct berth.

Photo: USA Today Sports

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