2019 World Cup Rumors | Hoops Rumors

International Notes: Hachimura, Delaney, Whitehead

September 6th, 2019 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards rookie Rui Hachimura won’t play in the final two games of the 2019 World Cup for Team Japan, according to a statement issued by the Wizards and Japan Basketball. After going 0-3 in round-one play, Japan has been eliminated from medal contention, but will continue playing in the classification round. They’ll do so without Hachimura, however.

“Rui experienced knee discomfort and general fatigue during the World Cup, which we have jointly monitored with the Wizards,” Japan Basketball said in a statement. “While everyone had hoped for Rui to finish the World Cup with Team Japan, the Wizards and Japan Basketball believe it is best for Rui to not play the final two games and have a short period of rest before he must start NBA training camp with the Wizards which begins only three weeks from now.”

Despite Japan’s lack of success in the 2019 World Cup, they’ve already secured a berth in the 2020 Olympics as the host nation. Hachimura is expected to suit up again for his home country in Tokyo next summer following his rookie season with the Wizards.

Here are a few more international basketball notes from around the globe:

Veteran guard Malcolm Delaney, who spent two seasons with the Hawks from 2016-18, is in negotiations with Barcelona, sources tell Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops (Twitter link). While a deal isn’t done yet, it sounds like Delaney will continue his career in Spain unless he gets an NBA offer.
Former Nets point guard Isaiah Whitehead, a second-round pick in 2016, is working out with China’s Jiangsu Dragons, according to Chinese basketball journalist Zhang Duo (Twitter link). Whitehead spent the second half of 2018/19 on a two-way deal with the Pistons, but didn’t appear in a game for Detroit.
Dan Devine of The Ringer takes a look at some of the World Cup subplots that don’t involve Team USA, including the dominance of the Serbians, who have won their four games so far by an average margin of nearly 41 points per contest.
Former NBA forward Malcolm Thomas, who suited up for five teams from 2012-15, has signed with the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association after spending the last two seasons in Russia, a source tells Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.

World Cup Notes: Round Two, Smart, Canada, Australia

September 5th, 2019 at 11:16am CST by Luke Adams

The second round is set in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, as Greece and the Czech Republic advanced to the round of 16 today, eliminating New Zealand and Turkey, respectively.

Eight teams remain undefeated after three games: Argentina and Poland (Group I), Serbia and Spain (Group J), USA and Brazil (Group K), and France and Australia (Group H).

Team USA’s second-round schedule is now set too, as Gregg Popovich‘s group will face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greeks on Saturday morning. Monday will bring a matchup against Brazil, whose roster features current NBA players like Cristiano Felicio and Bruno Caboclo along with familiar faces such as Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao.

Here’s more on the World Cup:

A second Celtics player is dealing with a minor injury, as Marcus Smart missed Thursday’s game against Japan due to a left quad strain, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. USA Basketball had already secured its spot in the second round and Smart is listed as day-to-day, so it sounds like the club was probably just playing it safe with the veteran guard. Smart’s teammate Jayson Tatum is currently dealing with a sprained ankle.
Although Team Canada picked up a win today over Senegal, the program had a disappointing run in the World Cup after expectations had grown, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press writes, head coach Nick Nurse thought more Canadian NBA players would be on the World Cup roster, and intends to play a bigger recruiting role going forward.
As a result of being the last team from the Oceania region still standing in the World Cup, Australia has clinched its spot in the 2020 Olympics, as Sportando observes (via Twitter). The Boomers become the second country to claim a spot in the 12-team Olympic field, joining host nation Japan. Six more programs will secure Olympic berths in the World Cup.

Jayson Tatum To Be Re-Evaluated On September 9

September 4th, 2019 at 8:02am CST by Luke Adams

Team USA officially issued an update on injured Celtics forward Jayson Tatum this morning, confirming in a press release that Tatum suffered a left ankle sprain during the club’s tense win over Turkey on Tuesday, as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.

Tatum has been ruled out for Team USA’s next two games. He’ll miss Thursday’s matchup against Japan and Saturday’s contest against a to-be-determined opponent before being re-evaluated on Monday. If the 21-year-old is deemed ready to return at that point, he could play in Monday’s game, but it’s possible he’ll be sidelined a little longer.

Tatum’s injury occurred when he rolled his left ankle during the final seconds of overtime in USA’s 93-92 victory on Tuesday, but it looked worse than it was — after the game, he was walking under his own power and telling reporters that he already felt better, which is good news for the Celtics.

Team USA’s game against Japan on Thursday will have no impact on their standing in the tournament, since the squad has already qualified for second-round play. However, the club would certainly like to have Tatum back in its lineup for the last two games in the round-of-16, if possible.

USA will be part of a second-round group that also includes Brazil. The winners of tomorrow’s Czech Republic/Turkey and Greece/New Zealand showdowns will fill out the group. The game that Tatum misses on Saturday will be against one of those five teams.

Atlantic Notes: Tatum, LeVert, Harris, Bolden

September 3rd, 2019 at 11:36am CST by Luke Adams

Jayson Tatum rolled his left ankle in the final seconds of Team USA’s nail-biter of a win over Turkey today, but the injury – diagnosed as an ankle sprain – doesn’t appear to be serious. The Celtics forward texted head coach Brad Stevens and told him as much about 20 minutes after suffering the injury, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.

Tatum later addressed reporters in China, including Joe Vardon of The Athletic and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Twitter links), and said he was already feeling better. The 21-year-old was walking under his own power and didn’t have much of a limp, according to reports, which is great news for the Celtics.

It remains to be seen whether Tatum’s World Cup run is over. We should know more by Wednesday, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if USA Basketball plays it safe with the young forward, sending him back stateside to focus on getting healthy for his upcoming season with the Celtics.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights (Twitter link) passes along the official numbers for Caris LeVert‘s new rookie scale extension, which starts at about $16.2MM in 2020/21. As initially reported, the three-year deal with the Nets is worth exactly $52.5MM and is fully guaranteed, with no options.
Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris, who put up 11 points and five rebounds today for Team USA, is relishing an opportunity to represent his country at the 2019 World Cup, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post details. ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that Harris should be one of the very best UFA shooting guards on what figures to be a weak NBA free agent market in 2020.
Within his latest mailbag for The Athletic, Derek Bodner writes that while the Sixers don’t appear ready to trust Jonah Bolden as their primary backup center, he also doesn’t believe the club views Bolden as trade bait.

Team USA Advances In World Cup; Tatum Sprains Ankle

September 3rd, 2019 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

Team USA survived a scare on Tuesday in Shanghai, narrowly pulling out a 93-92 win vs. Turkey in overtime and securing a spot in the second round of the 2019 World Cup. The Turkish team missed four free throws in the final minute of the game, opening the door for the USA Basketball squad to seal the victory.

Having defeated the Czech Republic and Turkey, Team USA will take a 2-0 record into its final first-round matchup against 0-2 Japan. The top two teams in each group move on to the round of 16, so even if Japan pulls off an extremely unlikely upset in Thursday’s game, Team USA would advance. The winner of Thursday’s Czech Republic/Turkey contest will also secure a spot in the second round.

Although they held off a strong push from Turkey, it wasn’t all good news for Team USA today. Jayson Tatum was forced out of action in the game’s final minute after rolling his left ankle, as a video from Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston shows.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst tweets that the official word on Tatum is a left ankle sprain. The Celtics forward will be re-evaluated on Wednesday, at which point we should have a better idea of whether or not we’ll see him suit up again in China.

Meanwhile, Team Canada was eliminated from medal contention on Tuesday after falling to Lithuania by a 92-69 margin. Canada, which lost to Australia on Sunday, is one of the only countries that theoretically features enough NBA players to fill out an entire 12-man squad. However, only two NBA players – Cory Joseph and Khem Birch – participated in the World Cup and Nick Nurse‘s squad couldn’t keep up with Australia and Lithuania in Group H.

Canada will enter the classification round along with the other 15 teams eliminated from the World Cup in round one. Those games will still be important, since Canada will have to finish between 17th and 23rd to clinch a spot in next summer’s Olympics qualifying tournament. A finish below 23rd would ensure the program doesn’t participate in the 2020 Olympics.

World Cup Notes: Walker, Gobert, Scola, Guduric

September 2nd, 2019 at 8:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Chinese fans have embraced Kemba Walker and he’s enjoying the attention as the biggest star on Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports. Many fans are wearing his jersey in the stands.

“To know you have fans in other places, especially me, it was very humbling,” Walker said. “It’s just a great feeling.”

While many stars passed on playing for their national teams this summer, Walker has looked forward to this opportunity for years.

“It’s special to be a part of this team,” Walker said. “I’ve been a part of USA Basketball for years, I was on a couple Select Teams where I didn’t get this far. I appreciate it.”

We have more World Cup news:

Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who is representing France, is upset by FIBA’s drug testing procedure, Sportando relays. Gobert posted on Twitter that he was awaken after a late game to get tested. “No respect for the player’s recovery time,” he wrote in part.
Former NBA forward Luis Scola has moved into second place on FIBA’s all-time World Cup scoring list, Sportando reports. The 39-year-old Scola trails only Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt. He surpassed Australia’s Andrew Gaze during a game against Nigeria.
Marko Guduric, who signed with the Grizzlies this summer, is averaging 10.5 PPG for Serbia through two games in the FIBA World Cup, David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. The swingman inked a two-year, $5.3MM deal with Memphis after playing the last two seasons for Fenerbahçe in Turkey.

And-Ones: World Cup, China, Thabeet

September 1st, 2019 at 3:31pm CST by clarkcrum

In a special piece for ESPN, Mark Woods takes an in-depth look (link) at all 32 teams vying to win the 2019 FIBA World Cup, which will be decided in Beijing on September 15, two weeks from today.

While recognizing that Team USA is the favorite, Woods does not have the Americans taking home the championship. His group winners include host nation China and the aforementioned U.S., in addition to Argentina, Spain, Serbia, Greece, France, and Australia.

Woods believes that all but two of the group winners will reach the quarterfinals, with Nigeria and Lithuania, finishing second in group play to Argentina and Australia respectively, replacing group winners France and China among the final eight teams.

Ultimately, Woods sees Team USA falling short of the championship game, with Australia falling to Serbia in the final. Be sure to tell us what you think in one of our latest Community Shootaround posts, here.

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Chinese Basketball Association is implementing a new guideline barring a player who is serving a drug or violence-related ban/suspension in another league from signing in the CBA. As Charania notes, the rule would prohibit someone like Tyreke Evans from signing with a team in the CBA.
After losing their first game in the 2019 FIBA World Cup to Matthew Dellavedova and Australia, Canada head coach Nick Nurse told the media that his team will have to play “extraordinary basketball” to beat Lithuania on Tuesday and advance past group play, per Lithuanian basketball reporter Donatas Urbonas (h/t to Sportando).
After working out for the Knicks once already (link), former No, 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet will continue to play in 5-on-5 scrimmages with the Knicks next week, reports Ian Begley of SportsNet New York. Begley adds that Thabeet will also work out a second time for the Bucks in about a week’s time.

World Cup Notes: Team USA, Mitchell, Bogut, Hachimura

September 1st, 2019 at 10:27am CST by Arthur Hill

Balanced scoring helped Team USA pull away from the Czech Republic in today’s FIBA World Cup opener, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Celtics teammates Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum combined for 20 points in the first half to help the Americans build a lead. Donovan Mitchell and Harrison Barnes took over in the second half of the 88-67 victory.

Coach Gregg Popovich is emphasizing defensive energy from his team, which is seeking a third straight World Cup title. He plans to rotate players to keep them fresh, as 10 saw playing time in the first quarter today. Team USA gets a tougher test on Tuesday, facing a Turkish team with NBA players Cedi Osman, Ersan Ilyasova and Furkan Korkmaz.

There’s more World Cup news this morning:

Popovich has chosen Mitchell, one of his youngest players at age 22, to be among the team leaders, Windhorst relays in a separate story. The World Cup experience could be a huge step for Mitchell, who has already gotten noticed for his leadership abilities with the Jazz. “He has a propensity for leadership and that’s how I spent my time with him,” Popovich said. “I’m not going to teach him how to shoot better or jump better or dribble better. But he has the intelligence and the willingness to become a leader and I think that’d be great. Not just for our team but for his team.”
Kevin Pelton of ESPN examines the talent on Team USA and projects 56.4 wins if it were an actual NBA team. That number, which would be the best in the league for the upcoming season, includes projections of 3.2 points per 100 possessions better than the league average on offense and 3.1 points per 100 possessions better on defense. He adds that even though the team may not be as strong as previous American squads, it still contains plenty of talent.
Australia’s victory over the U.S. in an exhibition game last week reflects the progress that the Boomers have made and the way they look at the American team, Andrew Bogut tells Marc Stein of The New York Times. “That mind-set has changed,” Bogut said. “When I first joined the national team, we never really had that true belief of beating the U.S.A. Whereas now we genuinely think, if we play it the right way, we have a chance to beat them.”
New Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard is in China to cheer on Rui Hachimura, according to Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington. Washington selected Hachimura, who plays for Japan, with the ninth pick in this year’s draft.

Poll: Will Team USA Win 2019 World Cup?

August 30th, 2019 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2019 FIBA World Cup will get underway in approximately 12 hours, as Angola and Serbia are scheduled to tip off at 3:30am eastern time on Saturday. Team USA, meanwhile, will begin its quest for a gold medal on Sunday morning with a matchup against the Czech Republic.

There has been plenty of hand-wringing in recent weeks over the exodus of talent from USA Basketball’s preliminary World Cup roster. James Harden, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, and many more All-NBA stars have pulled out of the competition, leaving Team USA with a roster headlined by Kemba Walker, the only player on the squad with more than one All-Star appearance on his résumé.

Outside of Walker, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez are the only other former All-Stars in the 12-man group. The roster is rounded out by up-and-coming youngsters like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Myles Turner, and Derrick White, along with veteran role players Harrison Barnes, Marcus Smart, Joe Harris, and Mason Plumlee.

It’s not exactly a star-studded roster, but it’s still the only 12-man squad at the World Cup that will be made up exclusively of NBA players. Team USA will have a depth advantage over every other national team in the field and will have a versatile enough roster to match up with any club it faces. It also has one of the sport’s best coaches of all-time in Gregg Popovich.

On the other hand, Team USA’s dozen representatives aren’t particularly accomplished in international play, and NBA experience isn’t everything in these tournaments — the last time USA Basketball lost a major international competition, in 2006, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard were among the stars representing America. They fell to a Greek team without a single player on an NBA roster.

In international play, and particularly in the single-elimination stage of these tournaments, a hot five-man lineup – or even a single player – can be enough to pull off an upset.

The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag view Team USA as the favorites to bring home the World Cup gold from China, but not overwhelmingly so — the line for Team USA is -170, meaning you’d only have to risk $170 to win $100.

Nikola Jokic and the Serbians (+350) are considered strong challengers, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece (+1000) in the mix as well, along with Marc Gasol and the Spaniards (+1600). Tom Ziller of SBNation.com also views Australia, France, Lithuania, and Germany as teams with the potential to knock off Team USA — Australia already did so once in exhibition play, snapping the program’s 78-game winning streak in international contests.

What do you think? Is Team USA still a slam dunk to win this year’s World Cup, despite all its missing stars, or is this the year that the country’s streak of gold medals comes to an end?

Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Canada, Greece, Turkey Set World Cup Rosters

August 30th, 2019 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

While USA Basketball had its share of withdrawals this summer leading up to the 2019 World Cup, there’s a strong case for Team Canada being the national team hit hardest by a lack of participation from NBA players.

Team Canada formally announced its 12-man World Cup roster today. As expected, the group features just two NBA players: Kings point guard Cory Joseph and Magic center Khem Birch. As we outlined earlier this month, the list of Canadians not participating in the World Cup includes Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tristan Thompson, Trey Lyles, Dillon Brooks, Dwight Powell, RJ Barrett, and several other NBA players.

The national teams for Greece and Turkey also announced their final 12-man rosters for the World Cup, and both squads feature multiple current NBA players.

Bucks teammates – and brothers – Giannis Antetokounmpo and Thanasis Antetokounmpo headline the Greek squad, with former NBA players like Kostas Papanikolaou, Nick Calathes, and Georgios Papagiannis helping to fill out the roster.

On the Turkish national team, Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova, Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman, and Sixers guard Furkan Korkmaz are the headliners. Former Celtics and Cavaliers center Semih Erden is also part of Turkey’s 12-man roster.

The World Cup will officially get underway in China on Saturday with an eight-game schedule, though Canada, Greece, and Turkey won’t take the court until Sunday.