Canada Basketball has announced its 18 man roster for the Senior Men’s National Team Thursday night. The roster, which features an NBA heavy lineup, is arguably one of the most talent heavy in program history.
Canada is looking to improve on a disappointing 21st place finish at the 2019 World Cup. And with the additions of uber talented guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who received MVP votes in the 2022-23 NBA season), and recently crowned NBA champion Jamal Murray, the squad’s back court appears to be set in stone.
10 of the 18 players chosen for this year’s team are currently on an NBA roster, with several others having had tastes of NBA action in the past as well. 7 footer Zach Edey likely would have been selected in the 2023 NBA Draft, however he elected to return to Purdue for another season in the college ranks.
Perhaps most exciting for the long term development of basketball in Canada is the selection of 3 CEBL members. Phil & Thomas Scrubb, as well as Kassius Robertson are all currently rostered on Canadian Elite Basketball League teams, adding further legitimacy to the upstart league.
Canada 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
| Position | Player | Team |
| F | Kyle Alexander | Valencia |
| G | Nickeil Alexander-Walker | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| G/F | RJ Barrett | New York Knicks |
| G | Trae Bell-Haynes | Casademont Zaragoza |
| F | Oshae Brissett | Boston Celtics |
| F | Dillon Brooks | Houston Rockets |
| G | Luguentz Dort | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| C | Zach Edey | Purdue Boilermakers |
| F | Melvin Ejim | Unicaja |
| G | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| G | Cory Joseph | Golden State Warriors |
| G | Jamal Murray | Denver Nuggets |
| C | Kelly Olynyk | Utah Jazz |
| F | Kevin Pangos | Olimpia Milano |
| F/C | Dwight Powell | Dallas Mavericks |
| G | Kassius Robertson | Scarborough Shooting Stars |
| G | Phil Scrubb | Niagara River Lions |
| F | Thomas Scrubb | Ottawa BlackJacks |
This year’s team will be coached by Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez who took over for the recently departed Nick Nurse. Team Canada begins training camp in Toronto in August, and will then travel overseas for a series of exhibition games before the World Cup.
Germany, Spain, the Dominican Republic, and New Zealand are currently scheduled for the team’s tune up period between August 9th and 18th. The 2023 FIBA World Cup officially kicks off on August 25th.
Canada has been slotted into Group H with Latvia, Lebanon and France. While fans were initially hopeful of seeing French phenom Victor Wembanyama in action, the newly drafted Spur recently announced he will be skipping the World Cup this year to focus on his transition to the NBA.
Group H will be playing out of the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta.
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) |
| Fri., August 25th | France | 9:30 a.m. |
| Sun., August 27th | Lebanon | 5:45 a.m. |
| Tue., August 29th | Latvia | 9:30 a.m. |
The top two teams in the group will then advance to the 2nd round where they will be joined by the top two teams from group G (which consists of Iran, Spain, Ivory Coast and Brazil).
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Milosgr97. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.