There are three or four teams that are serious contenders for the Gold Medal at the FIBA World Cup. Arguably, two of those teams stood out as the biggest threats to the favourites, Team USA, who wound up facing off on the very first day of the tournament. On one side of the court stood France, the reliable contender that pushed Team USA to the brink at the Olympics and wound up coming six points short of the gold medal. On the other, a surprise threat in Canada, which has never medaled in the World Cup and hasn’t reached the Olympics since 2000.
Canadian Talent Sines at FIBA World Cup
Even though the Canadian team lacks experience, they more than make up for it in talent. Led by All-Star and All-NBA point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadians brought seven NBA players to the tournament: Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Lu Dort, Dwight Powell, RJ Barrett, Kelly Olynyk and Dillon Brooks. That talent won out on Friday against a French team many expect to medal at this tournament.
The French team led for most of the first half, and Canada had only a three-point edge at 43-40 when the two sides returned to the locker rooms for halftime. But the second half was another story. Canada decimated France 52-22 in the final two frames to secure a 95-65 statement victory. As you’d expect, Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 27 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed out in Canada’s #FIBAWC opening win 🔥
27 PTS, 13 REB, 6 AST pic.twitter.com/OONcGL9s5h
— NBA (@NBA) August 25, 2023
WHAT the Victory Means for Canada
The loss immediately puts France in a difficult position. In the opening round of the tournament, teams are placed into groups of four with the top two teams advancing. Not only has Canada taken a critical victory over France, but the blowout nature of the win could matter from a tiebreaker perspective. Canada and France should both be favoured over Latvia and Lebanon, the two remaining teams in Group H, but Latvia’s 39-point victory over Lebanon could also come into play from a tiebreaker perspective.
Though France is far from out and Canada has a long way to go, the victory represents a changing of the guard to some extent. France’s three NBA players (Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum) are all in their 30s, whereas Canada’s best players are all relatively young. France obviously has a young star in Victor Wembanyama waiting in the wings, but the face of international basketball is changing. The dominant French and Spanish teams of the past decade are starting to age out, and new contenders are beginning to emerge.
Canadian Stars Missing From FIBA
Canada is not at full strength in this tournament, either. Jamal Murray initially planned to play in the World Cup, but recovery from his championship run ultimately knocked him out. Brandon Clarke’s season-ending injury cost him a chance to represent Canada as well, and the status of Andrew Wiggins remains a persistent question for the Canadian team. This is a group loaded with young NBA talent, and if wins like Friday’s are any indication, it will be a major threat on the international stage for years to come.
About The FIBA World Cup
The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men’s national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport’s global governing body. It takes place every four years and is considered the flagship event of FIBA.
From its inception in 1950 until 2010, the tournament was known as the FIBA World Championship.
The tournament structure is similar, but not identical, to that of the FIFA World Cup; both of these international competitions were played in the same year from 1970 through 2014. A parallel event for women’s teams, now known as the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, is also held quadrennially. From 1986 through 2014, the men’s and women’s championships were held in the same year, though in different countries. The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation. The winning team received the Naismith Trophy, first awarded in 1967. The current champions are Spain, who defeated Argentina in the final of the 2019 tournament.
Following the 2014 FIBA championships for men and women, the men’s World Cup was scheduled on a new four-year cycle to avoid conflict with the FIFA World Cup. The men’s World Cup was held in 2019, in the year following the FIFA World Cup. The women’s championship, which was renamed from “FIBA World Championship for Women” to “FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup”, after its 2014 edition, will remain on the previous four-year cycle, with championships in the same year as the FIFA World Cup.
The 1994 FIBA World Championship, which was held in Canada, was the first FIBA World Cup tournament in which currently active US NBA players, that had also already played in an official NBA regular season game, were allowed to participate. All FIBA World Championship/World Cup tournaments since then, are thus considered fully professional-level tournaments.