NBL Break This Weekend As World Cup Qualifiers Heat Up

09 Nov

3 mins read

Written By

By Dan Woods for NBL.com.au

Due to the FIBA World Cup qualifiers set to play out this weekend there is, unfortunately, no NBL action coming to your screens.

Just because they're not suiting up for your favourite side this weekend though doesn't mean you can't watch your favourite hoopers ball out - there are a number of NBL stars suiting up for their respective countries, as they attempt to qualify for one of the flagship tournaments in the international basketball calendar.

The FIBA World Cup - or the FIBA World Championships as they were known as before 2010 - has taken place every four years since the inaugural competition in 1950. The upcoming tournament is set to take place across Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia in mid-2023.

Watch Australia v Kazakhstan live on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel on Saturday at 1am AEDT.

While there are a number of NBL-based players travelling across the globe to play for their respective countries, plenty of high-quality players will stay at home during this window.

Gary Browne of South East Melbourne and Puerto Rico will not travel to take part in his countries' qualifiers against Colombia and Uruguay, while the lack of fixtures for South Sudan means the likes of Cairns pair Majok Deng and Bul Kuol, plus Adelaide duo Sunday Dech and Deng Acuoth won't take to the floor this weekend.

While named in the Boomers squad, Xavier Cooks and Luke Travers won't travel with the side. Cooks suffered an ankle injury in Sydney’s recent clash with the Breakers, while Travers pulled out of the side due to load management. Kings young-gun Jaylin Galloway has replaced Cooks in the squad.

Ahead of the upcoming window six teams have already confirmed their participation in the event – the Philippines, Finland, New Zealand, Lebanon, Japan and the Ivory Coast – Australia will look to continue their unbeaten qualifying run as they take on Kazakhstan in the early hours of Sunday morning.

NBL players participating in this weekend’s qualifiers:

Australia
Todd Blanchfield – Perth Wildcats
Sam Froling – Illawarra Hawks
Jaylin Galloway – Sydney Kings
Mitch McCarron – Adelaide 36ers
Mitch Norton – Perth Wildcats
Dejan Vasiljevic – Sydney Kings

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Adelaide's Mitch McCarron will once again captain the Boomers in the upcoming FIBA qualifiers.

New Zealand
Walter Brown - Tasmania JackJumpers
Dan Fotu – New Zealand Breakers
Alex McNaught – New Zealand Breakers
Hyrum Harris – Adelaide 36ers
Anzac Rissetto – South East Melbourne Phoenix
Tohi Smith-Milner – South East Melbourne Phoenix

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Tohi Smith-Milner will help lead a young Tall Blacks side that features three first time representatives - Walter Brown, Alex McNaught and Anzac Rissetto.