Vancouver, B.C. - The Men’s Canadian National Team has been absent from the Olympics since 2000, when the only NBA players from Canada were Steve Nash and Todd MacCulloch. Now, there are 14 players in the NBA and Canada has the most players in the league outside of the U.S.A. Dubbed “The Golden Age” of Canadian Basketball, this group of talent athletes is looking to make their mark on the international stage.
The road to Tokyo 2020 has already begun, but this summer is an important step along the way as they attempt to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2019. Team Canada will start this summer with a pair of exhibition games against Team China in the inaugural Pacific Rim Classic with games being played in Vancouver and Victoria on June 22nd and 24th. Next, they will head out east to play their FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers against Dominican Republic on June 29th and U.S. Virgin Islands on July 2nd.
Canada is in Group D along with Bahamas, Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each team faces the other three teams on a home and away basis with the top three teams from each group advancing to the second round.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China will be the biggest edition of FIBA's flagship event with a record 32 participating teams playing 92 games over 16 days. For the first time, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will qualify seven teams directly for the following year's Olympic Games.
Be sure to catch Team Canada play at the inaugural Pacific Rim Classic later this month. You can buy tickets here at PacificRimClassic.com
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