FIBA, the international governing board for the sport of basketball, on Sunday announced wide changes to the way teams will qualify for the World Cup following the 2014 event. Among those changes: the following World Cup will be held in 2019 as FIBA attempts to find some daylight by shifting off of the years in which FIFA’s football World Cup grabs attention.
FIBA adopts major World Cup qualification changes, putting NBA participation at risk
The international basketball governance organization has radically shifted its qualification system and calendar. Where it leaves NBA players remains to be seen.
Christian Petersen
Most importantly, though, is that FIBA will qualify teams for the World Cup and Olympic tournament much as its football brothers do: through multiple qualification periods through the year. These periods will, for the 2019 World Cup, be in November 2017, February 2018, June 2018, September 2018, November 2018 and February 2019. You may not that the NBA is typically in session in November, February and, for two teams, June.
Whether this means that NBA players will no longer participate in global basketball remains to be seen. If so, it’s a huge dent to the sport.
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