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The last time Canada competed in an Olympic men’s basketball event was in 2000. For example, the man who coached Canada to the quarter-finals in Sydney, Steve Nash, was a 26-year-old, five years away from winning his first straight NBA MVP award. Now it’s a 48-year-old head coach fending off a coup attempt by Kevin Durant, who was 11 when the Sydney tournament started.
The quickest and best way for the Canadian men’s team to end their quarter-century absence from the Olympics in 2024 is via the FIBA Basketball World Cup next summer in Asia. The top two from the Canada region, the Americas, get tickets to the Paris Olympics. One of them will almost certainly go to the United States, but the other is up for grabs. Argentina got it for last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo despite there being no notable NBA players.
Canada has several on its current roster, including legitimate stars in Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks and Lu Dort – all of whom have committed to the national team for this Olympic cycle. Andrew Wiggins didn’t, but there’s hope the key member of Golden State’s 2022 championship team can jump later. With a slew of other solid NBA contributors on board – Kelly Olynyk, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dwight Powell and the Raptors’ Khem Birch, to name a few – and the former Coach of the Year from NBA Nick Nurse at the helm, Canada’s chances of reaching Paris are looking pretty good.
But first, there are things to settle. In order to advance to the World Cup, Canada must successfully navigate the final Americas qualifying round, which begins Thursday and ends in late February (there is also a match window in mid-November) .
It is not a very difficult task. Seven of the 32 World Cup spots are reserved for the Americas, and only 12 teams remain in search of them. They are split into two pools of six for this final round, where all of Canada need only finish in the top three of their pool or be the better of the two fourth-place teams. As the only team to go 6-0 in the previous round, Canada start with a cushion over Argentina (5-1), Venezuela (5-1), Dominican Republic (4-2) , Panama (2-4) and the Bahamas (2-4). Canada have already played the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, so they won’t be playing them again. They will face the other three teams home and away by February. It would be shocking if Canada did not finish in the top three of this group.
The Canadians open their final-round slate Thursday night against Argentina in Victoria, perhaps their toughest test. Departure time is 10:40 p.m. ET. Then they travel to Panama for their only other game in this window, Monday at 8:10 p.m. ET.
With the next two qualifying windows falling during the NBA season, Canada will want to cash in on some wins – and build chemistry – while some of their most talented players are available. Gilgeous-Alexander, who made his long-awaited national team debut in the July window and averaged 28 points in two games, is expected to play. The same goes for Alexander-Walker, Olynyk, Powell, Oshae Brissett and Cory Joseph. But Barrett, Dort, Brooks, Birch and Murray, who is still working after an April 2021 knee injury that cost him all of last season, won’t. These five, however, participated in this week’s training camp in Victoria. Learn more about Team Canada’s prospects for the upcoming qualifiers by reading this story and watch this video.
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