Four qualifying tournaments to determine the final four teams in the men’s basketball pool at the Tokyo Olympics are set to tip off on Tuesday. In advance of the Olympic qualifiers, the 24 teams involved have officially set their 12-man rosters, according to a press release from FIBA.
More than two dozen current NBA players are participating in the tournament, and 11 of the 24 teams competing for Olympic spots have at least one current NBA players on their respective rosters. Of those clubs, Team Canada has the biggest contingent of NBA players — eight of the 12 players on Nick Nurse‘s squad finished the season on an NBA roster. Turkey is next with four NBA players.
The four qualifying tournaments will take place in Serbia, Lithuania, Croatia, and Canada. Only the winner of each six-team group will advance to Tokyo. Those four winners will join Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Iran, France, Spain, Australia, and the U.S. in the 12-team Olympic tournament.
The teams that move onto the Olympics may tweak their rosters for Tokyo, depending on the availability of certain players. For instance, if Greece were to win its qualifying tournament, perhaps Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo – who remains active in the playoffs for now – would make an effort to join the team in Tokyo next month.
Here are the NBA players on the OQT rosters:
Belgrade, Serbia
- Italy: Nico Mannion (Warriors), Nicolo Melli (Mavericks/RFA)
- Serbia: Nemanja Bjelica (Heat/UFA), Boban Marjanovic (Mavericks/UFA)
- Dominican Republic, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal: None
Kaunas, Lithuania
- Lithuania: Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Jonas Valanciunas (Grizzlies)
- Slovenia: Vlatko Cancar (Nuggets), Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Angola, Korea, Poland, Venezuela: None
Split, Croatia
- Brazil: Anderson Varejao (Cavaliers/UFA)
- Croatia: Bojan Bogdanovic (Jazz)
- Germany: Isaac Bonga (Wizards/RFA), Moritz Wagner (Magic/UFA)
- Mexico, Russia, Tunisia: None
Victoria, Canada
- Canada: Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Pelicans), RJ Barrett (Knicks), Luguentz Dort (Thunder), Cory Joseph (Pistons), Trey Lyles (Spurs/UFA), Mychal Mulder (Warriors/RFA), Dwight Powell (Mavericks), Andrew Wiggins (Warriors)
- Czech Republic: Tomas Satoransky (Bulls)
- Greece: Kostas Antetokounmpo (Lakers/RFA)
- Turkey: Cedi Osman (Cavaliers), Ersan Ilyasova (Jazz/UFA), Furkan Korkmaz (Sixers/UFA), Omer Yurtseven (Heat/team option)
- China, Uruguay: None
There are also many former NBA players among the 24 rosters, including Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Timofey Mozgov (Russia), and Anthony Bennett (Canada).
To view the full rosters, be sure to visit FIBA’s official site and click through to each team from there.
The one Turkish player that won’t be on that team is Enes Kanter. President Erdogan has a warrant out for his arrest for alleged involvement in an attempted coup a few years ago.
One team not in the qualifiers that could have done damage in the Olympics if its NBA players, former NBA players, and veteran overseas players played is Cameroon. That team could put together a lineup with Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam [and his brother, I believe], Luc Mbah A’Moute, and DJ Strawberry (Darryl’s son) at the point.
Another country that qualified for baseball, but isn’t in the qualifier list here that could put together an interesting group is Israel. Current Nets’ player development assistant coach and recent Israeli league MVP, Amar’e Stoudamire, is an Israeli citizen now. Deni Avidja, Omri Casspi and a few other recent former NBA and NCAA players could also round out that team.
Mbah a Moute isn’t the same after those two shoulder injuries he suffered 3 years ago. Then the knee surgeries he had 2 years ago didn’t help either.
I have a lot of respect for Kanter for standing g up to the Turkish despot.
There’s really no excuse for Canada not qualifying this year.
Some interesting teams out there. That potential Lithuania v Slovenia matchup could be interesting.
Guess Porzingis not playin international this year?
Latvia ain’t in that list, right?