Team Japan Olympic men's basketball schedule: Rui Hachimura takes center stage

The former Gonzaga star leads Japan into the Paris Olympics where they'll face gold medal contenders France and Germany in group play

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga men’s basketball standout and current Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura is the face of a Japanese men’s basketball national team making back-to-back appearances in the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1970s.

Hachimura, coming off his sixth season in the NBA and his first full campaign with the Lakers, was not with Team Japan when it clinched its spot in Paris at last summer’s FIBA World Cup. Despite finishing 19th overall, Japan took the Asia qualification spot without beating any team ranked higher than 21st. Seven of the top eight scorers from that team are back on the national team, which includes NBA veteran Yuta Watanabe, Nebraska men’s basketball standout Keisei Tominaga and former Washington State men’s basketball forward Joshua Hawkinson, who was named MVP of Japan's B.League in 2023.

Hachimura was a late commit to the national team, which would explain why he didn’t play in most of the exhibition games leading up to Group B play later this week. After beating Korea in the SoftBank Cup tournament, Japan lost narrow contests to Australia (90-89) and Korea (85-84) before Hachimura’s return against Germany, the reigning World Cup champion and competitor in Group B.

In his first organized game since April, Hachimura finished with 19 points, five rebounds and shot 6-of-13 from the field in 25 minutes. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and went 5-of-6 at the charity stripe, but Japan was ultimately overwhelmed in a 104-83 defeat. It was more of the same against Nikola Jokic and Serbia — Hachimura was even better, totaling 29 points and five triples, though the Serbs cruised to a 119-100 victory in Japan’s final tune-up game.

The 2021 Tokyo Games played out in a similar fashion, as Hachimura averaged 22.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game yet Team Japan failed to win a game and finished 11th out of 12 places in the final standings as the host team. Needless to say Hachimura and co. seek different results from the trip to Paris.

Here’s a look at Japan’s Olympic schedule and a breakdown of each opponent in Group B (all times in Pacific Standard Time):

4:30 a.m., July 27 vs. Germany (Pierre Mauroy Stadium)

8:15 a.m., July 30 vs. France (Pierre Mauroy Stadium)

2:00 a.m., Aug. 2 vs. Brazil (Pierre Mauroy Stadium)

GERMANY

All the key contributors from last summer’s FIBA World Cup champion squad are back for the Paris Games, including Dennis Schroeder, Moritz and Franz Wagner, Daniel Theis and Andreas Obst — the hero from last year’s win over the U.S. in the semifinals. 

That crew nearly came close to upsetting the Americans again, this time in an exhibition game, after trailing by double-digits in the first half only to take the lead with four minutes remaining in regulation. Franz led the way with 18 points, as the 22-year-old figures to be Germany’s go-to guy throughout Olympic competition, while Shroeder had a 13-point, 10-assist double-double and Angst added 17 points.

Outside of losses to the U.S. and France, Germany looked thoroughly dominant in its exhibition wins over the Netherlands and Japan. 

FRANCE

The host nation that advanced to the gold medal game in 2021 added the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama to its lineup. Frank Ntilikina and Bilal Coulibaly rejoined the national team as well after not playing in the World Cup, in which France finished 19th without its key players.

The exhibition tour was a bit shaky — after wins over Turkey and Germany, the French dropped a rematch to the Germans (albeit without Wembanyama due to illness) followed by losses to Serbia, Canada and Australia leading up to group play. All things considered, those aren’t bad losses, though without strong guard play like it had in 2021, France doesn’t appear like a lock to make the semifinals.

If Evan Fournier (31) and Nando De Colo (37) can put together one last solid Olympic run while Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert control the paint, the French will be a hard team to beat.

BRAZIL

If Hachimura and Japan are to advance to the knockout round, it’ll likely have to be with a win over Brazil and at least competitive games against France and Germany. That’ll be easier said than done against a Brazilian squad ranked 12th in the world that went to Latvia and beat the hosts by 25 points to qualify for the Olympics. 

Golden State Warriors reserve Gui Santos is the only current NBA player on the roster, though Brazil also features veterans Bruno Caboclo, Raul Neto and Christiano Felicio. Caboclo led the team in scoring during the qualifiers with 17.8 points per game, including 21 points in the final, followed by Leo Meindl at 14.0 points per game.