Reasons Why NBA Stars Don't Prioritize FIBA World Cup, According To Insider

NBA’s top insider Adrian Wojnarowski reveled three main reasons why NBA stars don’t really seem to pay much attention to FIBA World Cup tournament.

A few days ago, the basketball world was shocked after Australia handed Team USA their first loss after thirteen years. While USA had some valid excuses for the said loss, Wojnarowski, arguably the best NBA insider believes that NBA stars really don’t prioritize the World Cup tournament for certain reasons.

In a recent FIBA World Cup 2019 discussion with ESPN, Wojnarowski revealed three main reasons why NBA stars apparently don’t put the World Cup tournament on their priority list.

According to the insider, the Olympics play a big role in the mindset of NBA stars who were involved in the FIBA World Cup. Wojnarowski said that the fact that the in the US, players have “higher regard” on the Olympics than FIBA. He also noted that the best players in the league such as LeBron James, Anthony Davis and James Harden didn’t want to exhaust themselves playing back to back years as the Olympics is scheduled next year.

One more factor that Wojnarowski pointed out, was that NBA stars are a bit concerned with the fact that they wouldn’t have ample time to prep up for next season if they participate in the World Cup this summer.

“The other factor is that, the tournament is late in the summer. And it’s right before the beginning of NBA training camp. Players were looking at a very long time commitment over 30 days with very little break time between the end of FIBA tournament and the beginning of training camp,” Wojnarowski said.

The top NBA insider also added that even the second tier players have a different mindset towards the World Cup and the Olympics. As per Wojnarowski, second tier players who are not qualified for the Olympic team next year highly assume that playing for FIBA World cup doesn’t guarantee them a spot at the Olympic team next year.

“Second tier star(s) who are not going to make the Olympic team next year thought by playing (For FIBA World Cup) this year, wasn’t gonna help their chances of getting on the Olympic team next year,” Wojnarowski added.

Based on Wojnarowski’s statements, it appears that the Olympics is indeed more important for US basketball players than the World Cup. In fact, just recently, NBA superstar Kevin Durant felt “disrespected” for not being included in the 2008 Team USA Olympic team.