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Years ago

Anthony Davis to withdraw from FIBA World Cup

Just announced on SEN that Anthony Davis has allegedly withdrawn from Team USA for the trip to Australia and China.

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rjd
Years ago

Rich Paul at it again?

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Curtley
Years ago

The 'World Cup' needs something done to make it become relevant. If a team USA 'B' team wins gold it's not a great look and if they don't it's not a good look either.

The one thing the world cup has over the Olympics is how many teams there are. If it was somehow turned into just a knockout tournament that may add something.

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Food for thought
Years ago

Soon they'll be asking for members of the public to fill in spots for both teams. Anthony Davis is a big out. I was one of those guys who was telling others to shoosh when they were saying we were going to be seeing B teams turn up for the Marvel Stadium games - to those people I offer an apology. As keen as I am to go to these games I can't pretend I am nearly as excited as I was when I bought the tickets 18 months ago.

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paul
Years ago

"The 'World Cup' needs something done to make it become relevant."

They have made it the qualifier for the Olympics, can't do much more than that.

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Baller#3
Years ago

Do they need to go the route of fifa. Some kind of limitation on the Olympics which would in turn make the world cup the no. 1 option.

I also feel like the NBA and FIBA need to cooperate more

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Anonymous
Years ago

I think the WC is worth more than the Olympics. Hasn't been that way though.

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Anonymous
Years ago

What was the explanation for moving it so it's in the year before the Olympics, and not the 'middle' year? Was it just to separate from the football World Cup? If so, that seems silly.
I don't think you can do much at the moment. I think (globally) basketball still needs the Olympic spotlight to give it a boost in attention, but then once it has grown to the right level of size for the World Cup to really stand on it's own to some degree, I'd be cool with the Olympics being limited to U25's or something.

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Libertine
Years ago

FIBA is working towards 3x3 replacing basketball at the Olympic Games, while it builds the World Cup brand.

I would hazard a guess that 2024 or 2028 will be the last Olympics with basketball.

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rjd
Years ago

"They have made it the qualifier for the Olympics, can't do much more than that."

This is part of the problem. The World Cup should be the premier international tournament. Making it a de facto Olympic qualification tournament cedes it as the inferior international tournament. We are already well aware of the unpredictable and inconsistent commitments that top players make for qualification tournaments.

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Anonymous
Years ago

The challenge is really in the US, isn't it? The Olympic boost for basketball in the rest of the world is probably highly dependent on whether a country's team is in the medals or not, so doesn't affect most places. In the US, there's so much history that goes with Olympic basketball, and that just doesn't exist for the WC. But I don't think it's as simple as devaluing Olympic basketball by making it 3x3 or u25. The WC has to be meaningful in its own right, because Americans are perfectly happy to declare the NBA champions as world champs, and ignore FIBA basketball completely.

I am really surprised that the marketing opportunities in China haven't resulted in a better participation rate for this one.

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Baller#3
Years ago

With the growing number of internationals in the NBA I think in due time there could be some interest in an NBA run World Cup which I can see many benefits in. I could then see in 30 or so years the FIBA run world cup becoming defunct.

I can see in the future the NBA becoming the head of World Basketball. Particularly if they do eventually start NBA Conferences in Europe etc. I don't know if I like that idea but it would at least stop the clashing between the two as I think that does more harm than good for the game.

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Hoopie
Years ago

While I sadly agree, Baller, I hope it never happens that the NBA takes over world basketball.

At least FIBA still seems to TRY to have basketball played by the rules, as opposed to the NBA which relaxes or varies the rules in the interests of entertainment, keeping the owners and players happy, and all the other dubious practices in the NBA-NCAA environment.

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Anonymous
Years ago

From an admin and funding standpoint, there would probably be substantial benefit to bringing as much as possible under the NBA umbrella. But I doubt the NBA wants to get bogged down with non-elite junior and grassroots competition. While the NBA academies, NBA junior world championships, and the NBA's increased involvement in Team USA junior sides is a step in that direction, all of that is aimed at increasing the NBA talent pool.

Given the value of franchises, there would be a lot of pushback from owners against significant expansion that devalued their team. Russian oligarchs probably don't want to buy the Brooklyn Nets if they can buy the Moscow Donkeys...

And ultimately, I agree with Hoopie that the NBA's best interests are not necessarily basketball's best interests, and keeping the two separate would be desirable. However, FIBA is such a lightweight compared to the NBA, that it's hard to see them ever being the genuine driving force behind international basketball.

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Anonymous
Years ago

James Harden has withdrawn.

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Anonymous
Years ago

will he still play in australia

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Hoops

Anthony Davis to withdraw from FIBA World Cup

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