Canada Basketball announces final roster ahead of FIBA World Cup

Canada Basketball announced its final roster for the senior team heading into the FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup on Thursday. Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander moves around Argentina's Facundo Campazzo during second half action of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers in Victoria, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

AKARTA, Indonesia — Canada Basketball announced its final roster for the senior team heading into the FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup on Thursday.

The team will be led by all-NBA first team guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, guard RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks and centre Kelly Olynyk of the Utah Jazz. Wing Thomas Scrubb and guard Kenny Chery were the final cuts to the lineup.

Canada has seven NBA players on its 12-man roster, the most of any team at the World Cup aside from Australia and the U.S.

The 15th-ranked Canadians went 3-2 in exhibition action leading up to the tournament, including wins over world No. 1 and defending World Cup champion Spain and 11th-ranked Germany.

Canada will open the tournament in Group H play against No. 5 France on Friday, followed by matchups against 43-ranked Lebanon on Sunday and 29th-ranked Latvia on Aug. 29 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The final phase of the 32-team tournament will be played in Manila, Philippines.

Canada can qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2000 with a top-two finish among the seven Americas teams.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2023.