FIBA World Cup: Contenders, player props and best bets

Although many stars decided to skip the event, the FIBA Basketball World Cup has enough star power to demand your attention. The basketball world will have its eyes set on the biggest international competition outside of the Olympics, and it begins this Friday, August 25 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

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After winning the previous two World Cups, the Red, White and Blue disappointed with a seventh-place finish at the 2019 event. Steve Kerr takes over the coaching reins from Gregg Popovich, and he brings with him a brand new roster filled with young NBA talent. The average age of this roster is 24.6 years old, with the elder statesman being Bobby Portis (28).

Anthony Edwards led the U.S. in scoring in four of their five exhibition matches, including a 34-point eruption to pull away from Germany. The Americans won all five of those matches with unselfishness and depth, and are the favorite to win this tournament. It’s hard to argue with that, considering Edwards is joined by fellow all-stars Tyrese Haliburton, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Ingram.

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Some are calling this the “Golden Age of Canadian Basketball.” Although the Canadians have never medaled at this event, they have a roster loaded with seven current NBA players, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett. They also have excellent size in Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell and reigning NCAA Player of the Year and 7-foot-4 behemoth, Zach Edey of Purdue.

Canada lost two of their five tune-up games to Germany and the Dominican Republic, but they were testing out different rotations and didn’t have their full roster. Although they received a tough draw by being placed in the same group as France, the Canadians have enough firepower and depth to go very deep in this tournament.

No Victor Wembanyama? No problem. Although placed in the same group as the aforementioned Canada, France has the personnel and drive to build on their bronze finish at the last World Cup and silver at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

It all starts in the middle with three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert patrolling the paint. Before a four-point loss in their final exhibition game to Australia, France had won 10 straight games since the 2022 EuroBasket final to Spain. They will be tested right out of the gate with a matchup with Canada.

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The Aussies should be one of the more exciting teams to watch in this tournament. The favorites to win a tough Group E (-175), Australia looks to build on their bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics. You can count nine NBA players on the Australian roster, including two each from the Mavericks and Thunder. Young stars Josh Giddey and Josh Green will team up with veterans Patty Mills and Joe Ingles to give the Boomers a legitimate chance to go all the way.

It’s Luka Doncic and a bunch of guys you’ve probably never heard of unless you were a Virginia Cavaliers fan circa 2015 (hello, Mike Tobey). Most likely the best player in the field, the Mavericks superstar is capable of carrying any team to multiple wins all by himself. They quite possibly have the easiest group draw of any team and are my dark horse to win the whole tournament, assuming Doncic’s health.

The co-favorite for this prop with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, I like Doncic even though his opportunities to rack up points are projected to be fewer than SGA and others like Anthony Edwards (+600) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (+900). The reasons to go with Doncic are because of his ability to take over games with his scoring, lack of other scoring options on his team and the easy path to the knockout stage. The other competitors for this prop have too much competition from teammates and none guarantee to play more games than Doncic.

This is bound to be a defensive struggle, with Montenegro’s massive frontcourt, led by two-time NBA All-Star Nikola Vucevic. While Montenegro has struggled recently in international play, Mexico simply doesn’t have the firepower or talent to deal with Vucevic.

Mexico scratched out a two-point win last week in Abu Dhabi over a Kansas State team that’s expected to be on the NCAA bubble next season. Fun fact: the only time the Mexican basketball team medaled at the Olympics or World Cup was at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, the first time basketball was played in the Olympics.

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The game takes place on August 25 at 4:45 a.m. ET.

This should be one of the more anticipated matchups over the tournament’s first couple of days. Group B is very competitive, and the winner of this matchup will have a good shot at the second round.

Don’t let the fact that South Sudan is making their World Cup debut and that they have only been an official country since 2011 fool you. This is a well-run basketball program. Led by South Sudan Basketball Federation president Luol Deng and head coach Royal Ivey, the South Sudanese have the basketball acumen to compete here, as displayed by their 11-1 showing at the African qualifiers.

Puerto Rico has several names that will be familiar to big-time college basketball fans, and they competed with the United States for the first half, trailing by seven, before the Americans pulled away in a 117-74 rout in Las Vegas.

Ultimately, we like South Sudan to feed off the adrenaline of making it to the big stage and pull off the mild upset.

This game takes place at 4:00 a.m. ET on August 26.

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