Schedule clash ahead
Cup qualifiers likely to conflict with NBA season
Imagine USA Basketball and other top basketball nations trying to qualify for the FIBA World Cup without their best players.
That’s exactly what will happen when national teams begin playing home-and-home qualifying games in 2017 for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
National basketball federations knew FIBA was moving toward a FIFA-style qualifying system used for soccer’s World Cup, but it wasn’t revealed until recently that some of the six FIBA World Cup qualifying windows will coincide with NBA training camps, regular-season play and possibly the postseason.
That all but eliminates NBA players — and likely college players — from World Cup qualifiers during some of the windows.
“We’ll take it step-by-step and do the best we can,” USA Basketball executive director and CEO Jim Tooley said. “A lot of countries have questions. We’re all trying to figure this out.”
After the 2017 continental championships, national teams will start qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in November 2017 with home-and-home games. For instance, the USA could play a team in a home game one weekend in November and a road game against the same team the following weekend.
That continues with homeand-home qualifying in February, June, September and November 2018 and February 2019.
“The best thing we could offer to all of our members is games, and it will be a great tool to promote the games in the country,” FIBA spokesman Patrick Koller said.
In soccer, pro leagues around the world take a break for World Cup qualifying. It’s called the international break where England’s Premier League stops play so its national team can play, say Spain, in a qualifier. Spain’s La Liga takes a break, too, so the nations can play a home-and-home series in the span of a week.
The NBA does not plan on taking such a break, but FIBA will try to persuade other leagues to do so during qualifying windows which fall in-season.
Also, the number of teams for the event will increase to 32 in 2019, and seven teams from the FIBA Americas region, which includes the USA, will qualify.
Even without its best players, the USA should still qualify.
“During those six windows, it’s unlikely the 12 players in window one will be the same players in window two or window six,” Tooley said. “We’ll have to figure out which players we go to. Is it younger NBA players? Is it DLeague players? Or is it Americans playing in Europe? Is it college players? I think it’s going to be a combination.”