Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin has interest in playing for Team Canada this summer in the FIBA World Cup, per report
Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin would like to play international hoops this summer in the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
According to a report from Joe Vardon in The Athletic, Mathurin has interest in suiting up with Team Canada for the action. The Pacers guard has not played for the Canadian squad since the U19 Basketball World Cup in 2021.
"[Mathurin] has expressed a strong interest in playing this summer," Toronto Raptors and Team Canada head coach Nick Nurse is quoted as saying in the story. Mathurin averaged 16.1 points per game in the U19 action two years ago, which ranked seventh in the competition.
12 players will ultimately comprise the Canadian squad for the 2023 Basketball World Cup. Several current NBA players, including Pacers forward Oshae Brissett, committed to playing for Canada in some capacity during the upcoming summers leading up to the 2024 Olympics, so Mathurin may need others to be injured or unable to participate to get a spot on the roster.
Former Pacers head coach Nate Bjorkgren is the associate head coach for Team Canada. He sometimes leads the team when Nurse is unable due to his duties with the Raptors.
Should Mathurin be a part of the Canadian squad, he will be playing international basketball leading up to 2023 NBA training camp. World Cup play begins on August 25 this year, and the finals are slated to take place on September 10, the same month that camp would start for Indiana.
Pacers players Daniel Theis, Buddy Hield, and Chris Duarte played for their international teams last summer and were able to participate in training camp.
In the last FIBA Basketball World Cup, which took place in 2019, Pacers rookie guard Andrew Nembhard suited up for Team Canada. He averaged 2.8 points and 2.4 assists per game for the international squad, who were knocked out in the classification stage of the event.
Former Pacers guard Cory Joseph was also with team Canada in the 2019 World Cup, and current Pacers Myles Turner (USA) and Daniel Theis (Germany) participated as well. Spain won the event.
Mathurin has been one of the NBA's best first-year players this season. He is averaging 16.9 points per game and was just named a finalist for Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for the third month in a row. He has been excellent for the blue and gold.
That level of talent would be a boost for Canada, though it is still not known if Mathurin will actually be on the team. For now, he is just known to have interest in participating.
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