The 2023 FIBA World Cup is weeks away and once again, the United States will be one of the heavy favorites in the event. Team USA is always viewed with the utmost respect as the dominant force in world basketball for decades.
Team USA isn’t actually atop the world rankings entering the tournament, though. Even if the Americans emerge as the betting favorite before things tip off on Aug. 25, the United States is going to have its hands full.
This year’s World Cup is taking place across three countries: the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. The final is scheduled to take place on Sep. 10.
As the 2023 FIBA World Cup approaches, which teams are going to challenge Team USA’s path to glory this summer?
The United States is tied with the defunct nation of Yugoslavia for the most FIBA World Cup titles with five. But they didn’t win the most recent iteration of the event in China in 2019 – that title belongs to Spain.
In fact, the Americans are coming off their worst performance at a World Cup, crashing out in the quarterfinals at the hands of France. Team USA ultimately finished in seventh place, besting (worsting?) their sixth-place finish from 2002.
Revenge will be on the mind for Team USA this summer, and they certainly have the roster to get it. Players include Paolo Banchero, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Anthon Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram, and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Who stands in Team USA’s way? Here are the ten biggest title threats to the Americans at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
10. Italy
Italy doesn’t have much in terms of NBA talent, with just one roster member in the association. But the cohesiveness of this Italy team could be a factor in trying to medal in a major tournament for the first time in two decades.
This is the tenth World Cup appearance for Italy, which is ranked tenth in the world by FIBA. The team has never finished above fourth in the competition, though.
Italy’s top player and lone NBA representative is Simone Fontecchio, who averaged 6.3 points per game off the bench for the Utah Jazz during his rookie season. He’s one of the best shooters in Europe and averaged at least 19 points per game in both the Olympics and last year’s EuroBasket, where he made more than 45 percent of his threes.
Another player with previous NBA experience is Nicolo Melli, who has been on the Italian national team for a decade. During EuroBasket, he was the second-leading scorer and rebounder for the team and third in assists, an all-around game that should serve the squad well.
One player to watch is big man Guglielmo Caruso, who played his college ball at Santa Clara. He played at Varese last year and the 24-year-old is on the rise, recently signing a long-term pact with Olimipa Milano.
Italy should be able to advance out of Group A, which includes the Dominican Republic, the hosting Philippines, and Angola. Once the knockout rounds come around, having a dynamic scorer like Fontecchio could shift games in Italy’s favor.
9. Finland
Lauri Markkanen. That’s who holds the hopes and dreams of the Finland squad at the FIBA World Cup. After the season he had in the NBA, he might be able to shoulder that load.
The track record isn’t there for the Finnish. This is only their second World Cup appearance and they currently rank 24th in the world. Their previous World Cup finish was 22nd.
But expectations surge when a star player is involved and Markkanen qualifies. The NBA’s Most Improved Player was an All-Star for the first time this past season, his first with the Utah Jazz. He averaged 25.6 points per game, hitting 39.1 percent of his threes. That kind of weapon can easily change the balance of a game.
Markkanen is only as strong as his supporting cast, and that’s where there are questions. An intriguing young player is Miro Little, who is about to embark on his freshman season at Baylor. The point guard could use the World Cup as a platform to spring toward success in Waco.
Beyond that, the roster leaves something to be desired. There are a few names college basketball fans may be familiar with, such as Federiko Federiko, Jacob Grandison, and Olivier Nkamhoua. The other stalwarts are Mikael Jantunen, who played college ball for a couple of seasons at Utah and recently signed with Paris Basketball, and guard Sasu Salin, who has been playing professionally for more than 15 years and could be approaching a swan song with the national team.
Finland also has the misfortune of being in a very difficult group. The other teams in the group are Germany, Australia, and host Japan. It’s arguably the most difficult group of the Group Stage and it’s tough to imagine only two teams will survive it.
If Markkanen can bottle some of his magic from this past NBA campaign, however, Finland can conceivably advance. From there, all bets are off if the United States stands in its way.
8. Germany
As mentioned, Germany is in a gauntlet of a group. Surviving it should steel the Germans for what’s to come in the rest of the competition, perhaps including Team USA.
This will be Germany’s seventh appearance in the World Cup, an event where they finished in third place in 2002. Since then, however, the results for the squad have not been great. They finished 17th in 2010, missed it altogether in 2014, and were knocked out in the First Round in 2018.
This year holds more promise for the Germans, though. They are coming off a trip to the quarterfinals at the Olympics and a podium finish at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022. The team also has a handful of NBAers on the roster.
Franz Wagner is the best individual player on the roster, a budding star with the Orlando Magic. He averaged 18.6 points per game on 36.1 percent efficiency from three during his second season in the league. Meanwhile, he averaged 16.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game during last year’s EuroBasket bronze medal campaign.
The most important player, however, may be Dennis Schroder. The Toronto Raptors guard made his national team debut in 2014 and has been a mainstay ever since. In EuroBasket 2022, Schroder averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 assists per game, leading the squad to an upset over Greece in the quarterfinals.
Other NBA players on the squad are Franz’s brother, Moritz Wagner, and Daniel Theis; Maxi Kleber was selected for the team but pulled out after criticism from Schroder. Andreas Obst and Johannes Voigtmann are significant names likely less familiar to American basketball fans.
It’s a tough group, but Germany is a rising power in basketball. This is their chance to prove it.
7. Serbia
Serbia’s hopes took a big hit when Vasilije Micic pulled out of the World Cup. They took an almost unsurvivable hit when Nikola Jokic did the same after an exhausting year. Yet lowered expectations may be exactly what the Serbians need this summer.
Considering Serbia has had arguably the best player on the planet in their pocket, the results on the international stage have been disappointing. Serbia finished fifth in the most recent World Cup and failed to even make the quarterfinals at EuroBasket 2022. Yet they remain ranked sixth in the world.
No Jokic doesn’t mean no top-level talent on the roster. Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanovic and young Miami Heat prospect Nikola Jovic are on the roster. So is Filip Petrusev, who dominated a few years back at Gonzaga and is now fighting to make his NBA debut as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski suffered an upper arm injury during the offseason, which will preclude him from playing in the World Cup. There’s another young player to watch, however, one who hasn’t made it to the NBA.
Nikola Topic has been named to the roster, despite only recently taking the U18 squad to a gold medal in the European Championship, where he was crowned MVP. He’ll turn 18 years old before the start of the World Cup, a tall point guard at 6-foot-5 who can slash and pass with the best of them. He’s already generating buzz for the 2024 or 2025 NBA Draft.
Some fans of Team USA will likely dismiss Serbia upon realizing that Jokic won’t be taking the court for the country. An underdog mentality may be just the antidote Serbia needs for its recent international woes.
6. Slovenia
Another team where the question becomes how far a single player can take a country. In this case, the burden falls upon Luka Doncic.
Slovenia hasn’t broken through on the international stage yet. This is the country’s fourth World Cup appearance, but they’ve never finished better than seventh. At last year’s EuroBasket 2022, they suffered an upset at the hands of Poland during the quarterfinals.
Doncic did guide Slovenia to a gold medal at EuroBasket 2017, though the true star of that team was teammate Goran Dragic. Slovenia also made the Olympics for the first time thanks to Doncic, with the team finishing one victory away from a medal.
Doncic already had an injury scare during an exhibition this month after knocking knees in a game against the Greek squad. Luckily, Doncic appears to have come out of the incident unscathed. This team goes as he goes.
On the injury front, teammate Vlatko Cancar wasn’t so lucky. The Denver Nuggets reserve tore his ACL during a recent exhibition. The injury will definitely take him out of the World Cup and might take him out of the NBA regular season, too.
While Goran Dragic is no longer around, younger brother Zoran, who had a cup of coffee in the NBA, is playing once again. Klemen Prepelic and Mike Tobey are good role players for the small nation, too.
Still, this team will go as far as Doncic carries them. Considering how dominant some of his performances can be on the international level, that might be quite far.
5. Greece
While Greece was not the opponent, Greece was the venue for one of Team USA’s most infamous losses, a defeat in the semifinals at the 2004 Summer Olympics. That’s the game that led to the creation of the famous “Redeem Team” four years later.
Now, the Greeks have a chance to stand in Team USA’s way in a more direct position. That’s all due to the man whose nickname incorporates his nationality: Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If you’re reading this, you probably already know of the greatness that is the Greek Freak. He is already one of the best international players in NBA history, winner of two MVP awards and one NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks.
During the most recent World Cup, Antetokounmpo and the Greeks were disappointed. He averaged 14.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 steals per game and the team finished 11th in the field.
He and his nation fared better during EuroBasket 2022. Greece was still eliminated in the quarterfinals, but Antetokounmpo dominated and finished as the tournament’s leading scorer, despite the early elimination. His team goes as he goes.
All that being said, Antetokounmpo his recovering from knee surgery and may not be available to Greece in the competition. If he’s out, Greece could probably be removed from this list altogether. It’s something to keep an eye on.
This is isn’t to say Greece is without talent – there are two more Antetokounmpo brothers on this roster! Kostas Papanikolaou is also an important veteran, a forward who popped up briefly in the NBA and has been with Olympiacos for years.
Greece will get its first crack at the United States on Aug. 28, as they’re in the same group. They have the fortune of also being in a group with New Zealand and Jordan, so the Greeks should get another crack in the knockout stage if they can slide into second place in the group standings.
4. France
This is where the list gets particularly subjective. There are some that would be willing to put the French atop this ranking based on what happened a couple of summers ago. There’s just something that feels off about this squad.
At the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert guided France to a 10-point upset over tournament favorite Team USA in the quarterfinals. Ultimately, they finished third in the competition.
The team took home the silver medal at EuroBasket 2022, but the scores suggest France wasn’t heads and tails above everyone besides Spain. They played in a lot of close games and needed overtime numerous times to survive what would’ve been devastating defeats.
The experience France carries into this tournament is a double-edged sword. Fournier and Gobert are on the roster. So are long-time national team veterans Nando De Colo and Nicolas Batum.
But that’s also an old core. Every one of those players is at least 30 years old. The only player on an NBA roster who is younger than that is Frank Ntilikina, a backup guard who just signed with the Charlotte Hornets.
If Joel Embiid or Victor Wembanyama opted into playing for France this summer, the team would arguably shoot to the top of Team USA’s contenders. Instead, the ceiling feels capped, though the presence of Wembanyama in the future will make France a persistent threat on the international stage.
While Latvia is sneaky good, Lebanon should not be much of a threat in France’s group. The other team is Canada, so the French should get a shot at the knockout rounds and another win over Team USA this summer.
3. Canada
Team USA’s neighbors to the north are ready to crash the international stage. In fact, Canada may have the best collection of individual talent outside of the United States.
Canada’s results on the world stage have never been anything special. The country’s best finish in the World Cup was sixth place, a result they achieved twice, but both times were more than four decades ago. They haven’t finished in the top 8 of a global competition since the 2000 Summer Olympics.
But the team was dominant in the qualifiers, winning 11 of its 12 competitions. Despite being ranked 15th in the world, it feels like it’s time for a major breakthrough.
Just behold the NBA talent on that roster: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell – that’s not enough the full list. Add Purdue big man Zach Edey, and this team looks scary on the court.
Oshae Brissett has pulled out of the competition. Murray, meanwhile, has been sidelined during the tune-up games.
Even without Andrew Wiggins, Shaedon Sharpe, and Benedict Mathurin, Canada is absolutely stacked. A lot of those players are young and will keep growing on the international stage. The country is requiring three-year commitments to maintain continuity through the years.
There’s been no better time for Canada to shine than this summer. It’s time for the Canadians to join their American counterparts near the top of the international basketball stage.
2. Australia
Australia shows up on the international stage every single time, emerging as a basketball juggernaut. With the tournament taking place close to home, the Aussies could send Team USA to a land down under.
Recent results have been strong for the world’s third-ranked team. They made the semifinals in both the most recent World Cup and the two most recent Olympics. Australia has also won a pair of FIBA Asia Cup titles in the past few years.
Versatility is the name of the game for Australia. They have some of the most springy young guys in the NBA on their squad, while also having players who specialize in invaluable aspects of the game, such as defense and shooting.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are well-represented here. Josh Giddey should be the focal point, do-it-all player to lead the Aussies to glory, but Patty Mills is a long-time stalwart of the national team and will provide veteran leadership; Jack White is there, too.
Jock Landale is a rising depth big man who signed with the Houston Rockets in the offseason. Josh Green is another solid bench cog in the NBA, playing for the Dallas Mavericks. Dante Exum is on the verge of getting back to the NBA, while Matthew Dellavedova only recently left it.
On the defensive specialist side, there’s Matisse Thybulle. On the three-point specialist side, there’s Joe Ingles. And don’t overlook 2022 lottery pick Dyson Daniels, who struggled during his first season in the NBA, but led Australia to a gold medal in the FIBA Oceania U15 Championship in 2018.
There’s a changing of the guard taking place with the Australian national team, which should be in good hands going forward. But this may be the last time some of those vets like Mills and Ingles suit up on the world stage for their country. Expect them to give it their all.
1. Spain
Who else but Spain? The Spaniards have been the golden standard of those who can take the United States to task on the basketball stage. Once again, the collective unity of the squad will pose the biggest challenge to Team USA.
Spain is the most recent winner of the FIBA World Cup and also took home the title back in 2006. They are the No. 1 ranked team in FIBA – one spot higher than the Americans. The team is also coming off a championship at EuroBasket 2022. If Team USA is the prohibitive favorite at this event, Spain isn’t far behind.
Despite some really tight games, however, Spain hasn’t been particularly successful going head-to-head against Team USA. In 32 contests, the United States has only lost four times. Spain hasn’t actually defeated the Americans in 21 years.
If they’re going to defeat America this year, they’ll have to do so with only two players in the NBA, Santi Aldama and Usman Garuba. Spain legend Ricky Rubio was on the roster but withdrew recently to take care of his mental health.
Still, there are plenty of names that should prove familiar to NBA fans. Among those: Alex Abrines, Rudy Fernandez, Victor Claver, and the Hernangomez brothers.
There’s a collective feeling that this era of Spanish basketball may be coming to a close soon. The Gasols are gone and Fernandez plans to call it quits after the next Olympics. Real Madrid legend Sergio Llull, who has won five gold medals across competitions for Spain, is about to turn 36 years old.
If there’s one thing this generation of Spaniards is missing, it’s a victory over Team USA. The medals and titles are important, undoubtedly, but a win over the United States would be icing on the cake. Spain should have time to warm up to that confrontation. The other members of the team’s group are Brazil, Iran, and Côte D’Ivoire. Spain should run through those first three games.
A clash between Team USA and Spain could give the Americans the best run for their money, as well as provide the best moment of the 2023 FIBA World Cup.