The 2023 FIBA World Cup is almost here, and the field of teams who could potentially win the gold medal is larger than ever.
FIBA has long struggled to make the World Cup a marquee basketball tournament comparable to its soccer counterpart. The Olympics remains the top prize in international basketball, and most of the world's best basketball talent saves their summer energy for that instead.
This summer's FIBA World Cup is taking a similar mold. Not only is the United States down to a squad that contains zero All-NBA players from the previous season, but other countries are also missing All-NBA talent.
Greece is without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Serbia is missing Nikola Jokic, Lithuania is missing Domantas Sabonis, and Australia is missing Ben Simmons. (Okay, the last one was kind of a joke, but Simmons has made an All-NBA team and is not participating for the Boomers.)
The lack of talent helps level the playing field overall and could make this summer's tournament arguably the most exciting of the century. There are potentially nine teams – including the United States – good enough to win the gold medal.
For brevity's sake, we are going to stick to five here. Team USA will be skipped, as will defending champs Spain and perpetual runner-up France, because they are both like the Miami Heat of these international tournaments; they are simply always going to be good and thus a little boring to talk about.
Australia was skipped as well. Again, apologies to any Aussie readers, I promise the teasing stops here and that we are personally very excited to watch Josh Giddey and Dante Exum attempt to lead this team to gold.
Now, let's get started.
FIBA World Cup: Anything is possible for Slovenia as long as they have Luka Doncic, but how likely are they to come out on top?
Playing for his home country of Slovenia means a lot to Luka Doncic, and it has for his entire career. Back in 2017, he led Slovenia to the Eurobasket gold medal alongside former NBA star Goran Dragic.
Doncic has failed to repeat those successes ever since, and this summer, Slovenia will be without Dragic.
Doncic is easily the best player in the tournament with Serbia's Nikola Jokic and Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo sitting out, but Slovenia could struggle mightily without Dragic.
Dragic not only gave Slovenia another high-level NBA player, but he was an elite playmaker and scorer off-the-dribble. With both Doncic and Dragic, Slovenia could easily afford to rest one and let the other comfortably take over the responsibilities of primary ballhandler.
That is no longer available to the Slovenians, and when Doncic sits, they will suffer — greatly.
Having Doncic means this team can still go all the way, but they could just as easily be eliminated in the second phase of group play by coming in third to Germany and Australia, or in the quarterfinals where a match-up with either Spain or Canada likely awaits.
Doncic and Slovenia will leave it all out there, but that might not be enough this summer.
FIBA World Cup: Canada will have their All-NBA talent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and plenty of other NBA players for this tournament. Is it enough for gold?
Canada might be the best team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was All-NBA First Team last season and he will be joined by at least eight other NBA players: R.J. Barrett, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Oshae Brissett, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Cory Joseph, Kelly Olynyk, and Dwight Powell.
That's not including NBA champion Jamal Murray, whose status is up in the air. They've also got some solid overseas players, such as Kevin Pangos, who's a very good Euroleague guard.
It's also more than just the NBA talent they have, they could also play a variety of different styles. They could use Olynyk at center and go five-out and run a lot of pick-and-pop. They could switch Powell in for him, and make use of him as a vertical threat, or even play the two of them together.
Also, if Murray plays, they could try a three-guard line-up of Pangos, Murray, and Gilgeous-Alexander. Very few teams would have enough strong on-ball defenders to handle that.
From Steve Nash to Andrew Wiggins' pre-NBA hoop mixtape days, Canadian basketball hype has been slowly growing.
This summer could be the first time America's northern neighbors live up to the hype they've built.
FIBA World Cup: Could Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder bring Germany to the next level and deliver gold?
In the post-Dirk Nowitzki era, the German national team has probably never received the right amount of respect from the basketball community at large. For the most part, this is understandable.
Since Nowitzki's departure, they haven't come close to having a player of his caliber. Their talent from A-Z though, has increased, and they now feature some quality NBA players and high-level overseas players.
Dennis Schroder also seems to find another gear when playing for his country, and Orlando Magic wing Franz Wagner could be the country's next big basketball star.
They will also have Wagner's brother, Mo Wagner, and Indiana Pacers big man Daniel Theis. Former Laker guard Isaac Bonga will also join the ranks as will Euroleaguer's Maodo Lo, Johannes Voigtmann, and Andreas Obst.
The talent is there, but the luck of the draw might not be. Their initial group features Australia – which has more NBA players, Lauri Markannen's Finland, and Japan which will have Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe.
Should they prevail, they'll have to dispatch one of those teams again or Luka Doncic and Slovenia to make the quarterfinals.
They can do it, but it's going to take an incredible tournament performance from either Schorder or Wagner.
FIBA World Cup: Can Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jovic lead Serbia to a gold medal without the rest of their nation's stars?
Nikola Jokic's absence has been discussed plenty already, but Serbia is missing more than the two-time MVP. Former Euroleague MVP and new Oklahoma City Thunder guard Vasilije Micic won't be participating, neither will his Thunder teammate Aleksej Pokusevski, nor key role player for club and country Nikola Kalinic.
Serbia still has plenty of talent though, and they will be led by Atlanta Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic and Miami Heat prospect Nikola Jovic.
One of the Philadelphia 76ers' five backup centers, Filip Petrusev, will be playing for the Serbians as well. Serbia also has a ton of high-level overseas talent, and a lot of these guys are very experienced and know what it takes to win big games.
Former Grizzlies wing Mark Guduric is among the more recognizable names, and he's joined by former Golden State Warrior Alen Smailagic.
Their key player may very well be Nikola Milutinov. The center has been off folks' radar for some time now due to playing in Russia – whose clubs are banned from continental competition currently – for the past few seasons.
Milutinov is a good rim protector, great rebounder, great screener, has soft hands and touch, and while he can't pass like Jokic he is still a good passer for his size.
Coached by Svetislav Pesic, this team will be disciplined, will not waste possessions, and will have plenty of surprising talent.
Make no mistake, even without their star power, Serbia could still come out on top.
FIBA World Cup: Karl-Anthony Towns playing for the Dominican Republic for the first time since he was a teenager, could they actually do it?
We saved the craziest pick for last here, but don't be surprised if the Dominican Republic surprise a lot of people this summer.
For starters, they've got the self-dubbed greatest shooting big man of all time in Karl-Anthony Towns playing for them for the first time since he was a teenager. They'll also have three other NBA players on their roster: Al Horford, Chris Duarte, and Lester Quinones.
Their talent doesn't stop there. Former Overtime Elite player Jean Montero is coming off a very solid season in Spain's ACB where he averaged 17.6 points per game and 4.31 assists per game.
Guard Andres Feliz also had a very good season in Spain with Joventut Badalona, shooting 41% from three on 150 attempts. Big man Angel Delgado had a good season in Turkey and their local guys like Rigoberto Mendoza, Gelvis Solano, Antonio Pena, Gerard Suero, and Jhonatan Araujo offer a nice blend of shooting, size, and skill.
They are also coached by Nestor "Che" Garcia, one of the most experienced and decorated South American and FIBA coaches in the tournament.
They've got an easy opening group with Italy, Angola, and the Philippines. Their first big test will come in the second phase of group play. If they can go 3-0 and defeat likely opponents Serbia, they'll avoid the United States in the quarterfinals.
If they don't, they'll need to have the greatest game in their country's history if they want to make their potential fairytale ending a reality.