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After a disappointing medal-less performance at the 2024 Olympics, Canada is focused on this cycle of international events.<\/p>\n
France wants to win its first Olympic gold medal in men\u2019s basketball at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games. Serbia wants gold, too, as does Germany. All three countries are looking to end the United States\u2019 run of five consecutive gold medals, and France and Serbia came close but did not succeed at the 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the NBA\u2019s Victor Wembanyama of France, Nikola Joki\u0107 of Serbia and Dennis Schr\u00f6der of Germany are scheduled to play in 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifying games this week in Europe.<\/p>\n
The primary path to the Olympics runs through the World Cup, and qualifying for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar takes place during six windows from November 2025 through March 2, 2027.<\/p>\n
The next set of qualifying games for FIBA Americas, FIBA Europe, FIBA Africa and FIBA Asia\/Oceania is Aug. 26-31. You can view the World Cup qualifying schedule, standings and streaming information here.<\/p>\n
Here are the teams and players to watch in the August qualifying games. (Note: Some players listed are on preliminary training camp rosters and are not guaranteed to play in this window).<\/p>\n
United States<\/p>\n
The USA wants to play in the FIBA World Cup and is on track, but keep in mind that, as host country of the 2028 Olympics, it qualifies automatically for that event. The U.S. is 5-1 and in second place in Group E of FIBA Americas World Cup qualifying.<\/p>\n
USA roster: Jaron Blossomgame,\u202fPedro Bradshaw,\u202fGarrison Brooks,\u202fDarius Brown,\u202fKevon Harris,\u202fMike James,\u202fDeJon Jarreau,\u202fDillon Jones,\u202fJames Nunnally,\u202fOrlando Robinson,\u202fTyler Smith, Cole Swider<\/p>\n
France<\/p>\n
France, a silver medalist at the 2024 Olympics, is in a strong position to qualify for the 2027 World Cup at 5-1 and in first place in Group L. Winning gold at the World Cup and the Olympics is France\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: San Antonio Spurs\u2019 Victor Wembanyama, Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 Rudy Gobert, Sacramento Kings\u2019 Maxime Raynaud, Evan Fournier<\/p>\n
Serbia<\/p>\n
Serbia won bronze at the 2024 Olympics and had the U.S. on the ropes in the semifinals in Paris that year. In third place in Group J behind Turkey and Italy and just ahead of Lithuania and Iceland, Serbia needs victories in this qualifying window.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Denver Nuggets\u2019 Nikola Joki\u0107, Miami Heat\u2019s Nikola Jovi\u0107<\/p>\n
Spain<\/p>\n
Spain is trying to regain its medal-contending status following success with Pau and Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fern\u00e1ndez and Sergio Llull.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Dallas Mavericks\u2019 Santi Aldama, Boston Celtics\u2019 Hugo Gonz\u00e1lez, Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s Aday Mara, Juancho Hernangomez, Willy Hernangomez<\/p>\n
Germany<\/p>\n
Germany won the 2023 FIBA World Cup and lost to Serbia in the bronze medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics. At 5-1 in Group K of the FIBA World Cup qualifying games, Germany is getting closer to clinching a spot in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Charlotte Hornets\u2019 Dennis Schr\u00f6der, Orlando Magic\u2019s Tristan da Silva,\u00a0 Daniel Theis<\/p>\n
Canada<\/p>\n
After a disappointing medal-less performance at the 2024 Olympics, Canada is focused on this cycle of international events and trying to capitalize on the most talented players the nation has had. Canada is 6-0 and in first place in Group F.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Lu Dort, Kelly Olynyk<\/p>\n
South Sudan<\/p>\n
South Sudan made an impact with its play at the 2024 Paris Olympics, beating Puerto Rico and playing tough in losses against the U.S. and Serbia. Former NBA player Luol Deng is the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, and former NBA player Royal Ivey is the men\u2019s senior coach. South Sudan is 4-2 and in a tough group with Cameroon, Tunisia and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Peter Jok, Wenyen Gabriel<\/p>\n
Nigeria<\/p>\n
Nigeria is coached by former NBA coach David Fizdale and has multiple current and former NBA players who could play for the country in this window and future games. Nigeria is 4-2 in group play.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Utah Jazz\u2019s Josh Okogie, Chimezie Metu<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n
It does not appear that all of Australia\u2019s top players, such as Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels, will play in this window. But at 6-0, Australia is atop Group E and moving toward a World Cup berth. Australia won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but has never medaled in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Dash Daniels<\/p>\n
Japan<\/p>\n
Japan has played in the past two World Cups but has not advanced past the first round.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: Los Angeles Clippers\u2019 Rui Hachimura, Los Angeles Clippers\u2019 Yuki Kawamura<\/p>\n
Other players worth noting:<\/p>\n
Finland: Utah Jazz\u2019s Lauri Markkanen<\/p>\n
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Utah Jazz\u2019s Jusuf Nurki\u0107<\/p>\n
Croatia: Indiana Pacers\u2019 Ivica Zubac, Cleveland Cavaliers\u2019 Mario Hezonja, Dario Saric<\/p>\n
Georgia: Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 Sandro Mamukelashvili, Orlando Magic\u2019s Goga Bitadze<\/p>\n
Italy: Miami Heat\u2019s Simone Fontecchio<\/p>\n
Portugal: Boston Celtics\u2019 Neemias Queta<\/p>\n
Sweden: Miami Heat\u2019s Pelle Larsson, Bobi Klintman<\/p>\n
Turkey: Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 Adem Bona, Cedi Osman, Omer Yurtseven, Malachi Flynn<\/p>\n
Ukraine: Utah Jazz\u2019s Svi Mykhailiuk, Alex Len<\/p>\n
Argentina: Facundo Campazzo, Leandro Bolmaro<\/p>\n
Bahamas: Washington Wizards\u2019 Deandre Ayton, Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Buddy Hield, Eric Gordon<\/p>\n
Brazil: Bruno Caboclo, Raul Neto<\/p>\n
Dominican Republic: New York Knicks\u2019 Karl-Anthony Towns, Golden State Warriors\u2019 Al Horford<\/p>\n
Puerto Rico: New York Knicks\u2019 Jose Alvarado, Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 Enrique Freeman<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at\u00a0jzillgitt@nba.com<\/a>,\u00a0find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a disappointing medal-less performance at the 2024 Olympics, Canada is focused on this cycle of international events.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,302737,459,82],"class_list":["post-872156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fiba-players-to-watch","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}