What to know about the FIBA World Cup: Teams to watch and more (2024)

MANILA, Philippines — Steve Kerr approached the official news conference day at the FIBA World Cup on Thursday with one goal, which he accomplished without fail. He was not about to take the bait.

Team USA’s coach, as well as guard Jalen Brunson, faced questions for about 20 minutes and showed great skill in espousing respect for the entire 32-team field at large and for each individual opponent that may come the Americans’ way over the next two-plus weeks.

The best example may have come from Kerr, who was asked at one point by a Lithuania-based reporter if the Americans had an eye on a potential second-round matchup with the Lithuanians — a presumptuous question on multiple fronts— and then, which teams other than USA did he like?

The answers: Focus on the next game, and, all the teams.

“There are a lot of good teams, and we’re not going to overlook anyone,” Kerr said.

The Americans enter the World Cup as the No. 2 team in the world, as a favorite to win this tournament, as the seventh-place finisher at the last Cup four years ago — where they lost twice — and as the most recent Olympic gold medalist. They have a lot going for them, and perceived or real overconfidence is not something of which they plan to fall victim.

The 2023 FIBA World Cup is here, with action beginning at 4 a.m. ET on Friday. Team USA will meet its first opponent, New Zealand, at 8:40 a.m. ET Saturday.

Here’s everything you need to know to follow along.

What is the FIBA World Cup?

fLike the FIFA World Cup, the FIBA version is a quadrennial international basketball competition between senior national teams. The men’s tournament began in 1950 as the FIBA World Championship, and the women’s edition began in 1953.

It wasn’t until 1994 that active NBA players could participate.

FIBA World Cup format

The 32 teams, playing in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, are split into eight groups of four. Every member of a group will play one another in the first round, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the next group stage (the second round). The bottom two teams from each group will play the classification round for places 17-32.

In the second round, the remaining 16 teams are sorted into four groups of four. Each team will play the two teams in their group they did not face in the first round. The top two teams from each group qualify for the final phase. The bottom two teams are eliminated and ranked in places 9-16.

The final phase features the quarterfinals, classification matches (which will determine fifth through eighth place), the semifinals and the medal matches.

First-round groups

Group A: Angola, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Italy
Group B: South Sudan, Serbia, China, Puerto Rico
Group C: Team USA, Jordan, Greece, New Zealand
Group D: Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro, Lithuania
Group E: Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan
Group F: Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Venezuela
Group G: Iran, Spain, Cote d’Ivoire, Brazil
Group H: Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, France

Team USA 2023 World Cup roster

• Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
• Mikal Bridges, Brooklyn Nets
• Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
• Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
• Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
• Josh Hart, New York Knicks
• Brandon Ingram, New Orleans Pelicans
• Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
• Cameron Johnson, Brooklyn Nets
• Walker Kessler, Utah Jazz
• Bobby Portis, Milwaukee Bucks
• Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr leads the American coaching staff with the LA Clippers’ Tyronn Lue, Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Gonzaga’s Mark Few among his assistants.

Rosters for all teams are available here. A record 55 NBA players are on rosters for this year’s tournament, the league said, up from 54 in 2019.

U.S. exhibition game results

The Americans went undefeated in five exhibition games.

• Aug. 7: USA 117, Puerto Rico 74
• Aug. 12: USA 92, Slovenia 62
• Aug. 13: USA 98, Spain 88
• Aug. 18: USA 108, Greece 86
• Aug. 20: USA 99, Germany 91

Why is Spain ranked No. 1?

From the summer of 2019 through July, Team USA finished seventh at the World Cup in China and won gold at the Tokyo Olympics with NBA talent. Then, USAB finished third at the AmeriCup, a tournament of countries from North America and South America, and lost two games in the 2023 World Cup qualifying rounds with G Leaguers and former pros.

Spain, meanwhile, won the 2019 World Cup, fell to the Americans in the Olympic quarterfinals and then won EuroBasket last year.

Since 2017, FIBA has ranked teams based on a weighted system of games and victories, and results stay with teams for six years. So when Team USA finished seventh under Gregg Popovich at the 2019 Cup (with losses to France and Serbia), those defeats are going to stick with the team until 2025.

But what does No. 1 really mean?

The Spaniards don’t have the No. 1 overall seed for the World Cup, like, say, the Denver Nuggets going into the Western Conference playoffs or the Alabama Crimson Tide heading into the men’s 2023 NCAA Tournament. That doesn’t exist, and if it did, you’d argue the United States easily has the most favorable draw for the tournament, befitting a No. 1 overall seed. However, yes, Spain enters the Cup as the top-ranked team, according to the FIBA World rankings. The ranking doesn’t mean much and has a lot to do with Spain winning the last World Cup in 2019 and Team USA both losing twice in ’19 (it was the worst finish — seventh — in team history) and also losing a couple games during qualifiers for the 2023 Cup.

The defending Cup champs are certainly also trying to defend that top ranking — something Spain will surely lose if it doesn’t repeat as Cup winner. For context, Argentina is ranked fourth and didn’t make the World Cup, and Serbia is sixth, though it’s playing the Cup without superstar Nikola Jokić. — Vardon

USA, USA?

Yes. The Americans are the deepest team in the tournament, which is not new, but the way things have gone so far under Kerr, compared to the Popovich era, have been markedly better. In five exhibition games, USAB won all five, looked connected, identified a go-to scorer late in games in Edwards, had a solid rotation, shared the ball and defended. The Americans have big, capable guards in Brunson and Haliburton, and Jackson changes games as a shot blocker who can also score.

Also, as mentioned above, their tournament draw is incredibly favorable. In pool play, the only tough test was supposed to be Greece, but Giannis Antetokounmpo is out following knee surgery, and the Grecians are missing a few other rotation players. USAB beat Greece by 22 points last week in Abu Dhabi. Following pool play, the Americans are looking at games against the top two teams out of Mexico, Lithuania, Montenegro and Egypt. — Vardon

What’s at stake here, just bragging rights?

No. The coveted 2024 Paris Olympics are at stake. There was an argument made over the last few years that the FIBA World Cup mattered more to the rest of the world compared to the U.S., whereas the Americans cared more about the Olympics. Leaving USAB out of it for a moment, the top teams outside of the U.S. had a number of absences, from Giannis to Jamal Murray to Jokić to Victor Wembanyama. So maybe, at least for this two-year cycle, everyone is putting a little more on Paris than Manila.

Well, guess what? By far, the easiest way to qualify for the Olympics is to play well at the Cup. For North America’s and Europe’s top teams, the best and second-best performers by continent earn automatic berths into the Paris games. Beyond that, USA is looking not only for its sixth world title but also to erase the bad taste of a seventh-place finish from the 2019 Cup. — Vardon

Threats to the Americans

By process of deduction, you can see Team USA likely won’t see any of the other global superpowers until the World Cup semis. And there are some formidable ones. Spain pushed USA in an exhibition game this month and is led by Santi Aldama and the Hernangomez brothers. The French don’t have Wembanyama, but they give the Americans fits these days. Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum are among the standouts. Canada is loaded, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, RJ Barrett and Dillon Brooks, among others. The Australians have Josh Giddey, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Matisse Thybulle, Josh Green and Dante Exum (Jock Landale is hurt). Germany, which nearly beat the U.S. on Sunday, has Dennis Schröder, the Wagner brothers and Daniel Theis. Slovenia has Luka Dončić. This has all the makings of a hotly contested tournament — it’s just, if the Americans take care of their business, there is no reason they shouldn’t be in the semifinals. — Vardon

2023 FIBA World Cup schedule

• First round (group phase): Aug. 25-30
• Second round (group phase): Aug. 31-Sept. 4
• Quarterfinals: Sept. 5-6
• Semifinals: Sept. 8
• Final: Sept. 10
• Third-place game: Sept. 10

View the game-by-game schedule here.

Team USA group-stage schedule, how to watch

(Photo: Ethan Miller and Jon Imanol Reino / NurPhoto via Getty Images)