Canada announces World Cup training camp roster

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

The Canadian Basketball Federation announced a list of 19 players that will participate in the training camp of the national team for the 2019 World Cup (China, 31/8 – 15/9).

There are several players competing in Europe in the roster, such as Barcelona guard and former All-EuroLeague First Team selection Kevin Pangos, Turk Telekom forward Kyle Wiltjer, Unics Kazan forward Melvin Ejim, Estudiantes guard Phil Scrubb and his older brother, Strasbourg forward Thomas Scrubb. Valencia forward Aaron Doornekamp isn’t a part of the squad.

The list excludes Canadian-Greek guard Naz Mitrou-Long. By not participating with Canada in the World Cup, the Indiana Pacers player remains eligible to possibly join the Greek national team in the future. He has been working towards getting a Greek passport.

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and New York Knicks forward R.J. Barrett are marked as available only for the training camp.

Per Canada Basketball:

Canada Basketball is pleased to announce the 19 athletes attending the Senior Men’s National Team training camp on August 5-6 ahead of exhibition play and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

Canada will open exhibition play with a two-game series against Nigeria.  The Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto will host Team Canada on Wednesday, August 7 at 7:00 p.m. ET before the team travels to Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg for a game on Friday, August 9 at 7:00 p.m. CT.  Tickets for Toronto and Winnipeg are on sale now.

Following the Canadian exhibition games, Team Canada will travel to Australia for a five-game exhibition series against Australia (August 16-17), New Zealand (August 20-21) and the United States of America (August 26).  Tickets for these games are on sale now from Ticketek.

Last month, Canada Basketball announced Nick Nurse as Head Coach of Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 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. One of the fastest rising basketball nations in the world, Canada’s depth was on display during the Americas Qualifiers as 36 different players represented their country over the course of the six competition windows to qualify for the World Cup.

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.

Canada is in Group H for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and will face Australia (September 1), Lithuania (September 3) and Senegal (September 5) in the First Round.  The top two teams from Group G (Dominican Republic, France, Germany and Jordan) and Group H will qualify for the Second Round and form Group L.

The results of the three games from the First Round carry over to the Second Round with every team playing against the two teams in their new group that they have not faced.  The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Quarter-Finals.

Click here for additional details on the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 competition system.

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.

2019 SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM TRAINING CAMP ATTENDEES