USA will open Basketball World Cup against New Zealand

The UnitedStates will open Basketball World Cup play against New Zealand thissummer, with Greece and Jordan also awaiting the Americans in thegroup stage.

And theearliest the U.S. can see France in an Olympic final rematch is thesemifinals.

FIBA heldthe World Cup draw in Manila on Saturday, when the 32 teams thatqualified for the field found out their initial matchups for thetournament that runs from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10. The Americans —the four-time defending Olympic champions who finished seventh atthe most recent World Cup in 2019 — play New Zealand on Aug. 26,then face Greece and likely Giannis Antetokounmpo on Aug. 28, andconclude group-stage play Aug. 30 against Jordan.

“It’scomforting to kind of know who we’re playing,” USA Basketballmanaging director Grant Hill said. “The big unknown has been theresince we started planning and preparing. And at least now we havean idea of who we’re playing and who we potentially could beplaying in the second round.”

The U.S.will play all its group stage games in Manila, while Jakarta,Indonesia, and Okinawa, Japan, will also play host to some groupgames. Medal rounds are in Manila, so the U.S. won’t have to travelat all during the tournament.

TheAmericans will play Greece in August at Abu Dhabi in an exhibition.They met in the World Cup at China four years ago. Antetokounmpo isexpected to play for Greece; his Milwaukee Bucks were hoping for adeep NBA playoff run but lost to the Miami Heat in Round 1.

“They wereeliminated recently, so Giannis will have maybe a longer offseasonthan he’s had in recent years,” Hill said. “That’s scary.”

TheAmericans — who will be coached by Golden State’s Steve Kerr in thetournament — were drawn into Group C, one of eight four-team groupsfor the opening round. The U.S. is planning to announce its rosterin June or July.

“To ourfriends around the world, join our new ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ the2023 Basketball World Cup edition,” said Manuel Pangilinan, a FIBACentral Board member from the Philippines — using the phrase coinedfor the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight in Manila in 1975.

DefendingWorld Cup champion Spain is in Group G, with Iran, Ivory Coast andBrazil as its opening opponents.

France —which plans to have Victor Wembanyama on its roster — is in GroupH, along with Canada, Latvia and Lebanon.

France beatthe Americans in the quarterfinals of the 2019 World Cup,eliminating the U.S. from medal contention and starting the spiralto a seventh-place finish at that event, the worst finish ever foran American team featuring NBA players.

Francetopped the U.S. again at the Tokyo Olympics in group play — but theAmericans won the game that mattered most, topping France 87-82 forthe gold medal.

Theyhaven’t played since Tokyo but are still going head-to-head.Philadelphia center Joel Embiid — an MVP finalist this season, andthe presumed favorite — said before the season that he’s decidingwhether to play internationally for the U.S. or France at the ParisOlympics. He became an American citizen last year.

GROUPBREAKDOWN

All teamsin each group play one another in the opening round. The top twoteams from each group move on to the second round; the bottom twoteams move into a classification tournament to determine 17ththrough 32nd places at the event.

Teams arelisted with their world ranking.

Group A,Manila: Angola (41), Dominican Republic (23), Philippines (40),Italy (10).

Group B,Manila: South Sudan (62), Serbia (6), China (27), Puerto Rico(20).

Group C,Manila: United States (2), Jordan (33), Greece (9), New Zealand(26).

Group D,Manila: Egypt (55), Mexico (31), Montenegro (18), Lithuania(8).

Group E,Okinawa: Germany (11), Finland (24), Australia (3), Japan (36).

Group F,Okinawa: Slovenia (7), Cape Verde (64), Georgia (32), Venezuela(17).

Group G,Jakarta: Iran (22), Spain (1), Ivory Coast (42), Brazil (13).

Group H,Jakarta: Canada (15), Latvia (29), Lebanon (43), France (5).

TOURNAMENTFORMAT

The twoteams that advance from each group will play two other teams in thesecond round in new groups: The top two finishers in Group A willplay the top two from Group B, the top two from Group C will playGroup D’s two best and the same pattern follows — Group E playsGroup F, Group G plays Group H.

That means,in the second round, if the Americans advance they will play two ofthese four teams — Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro and Lithuania.

That secondround will determine the eight quarterfinalists.

Quarterfinal games are Sept. 5 and 6. Semifinals are Sept. 8 andthe games for gold and bronze medals are Sept. 10.

ATSTAKE

The WorldCup is FIBA’s biggest tournament, plus it serves as a way toqualify for next year’s Paris Olympics.

With theexpectation that France will be added as an automatic qualifier forthe Olympics as host — probably no more than a formality, with FIBAnot planning to decide until June 30 — there will be seven teamsautomatically qualifying for berths in the 12-team Olympictournament.

The top twoWorld Cup finishers from Europe and the Americas, as well as onefrom Africa, Asia and Oceania, will earn berths into Paris2024.

VENUENEWS

The drawcapped a three-day run of news out of Manila — some expected, somenot.

Theoriginal plan to hold the medal rounds in a 55,000-seat arena werescrapped Thursday over several concerns, including the lack of atraffic scheme that could accommodate such a crowd. The Philippineswill play its first two group-stage games in that arena with hopesof setting a World Cup attendance record, but the medal rounds willbe at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila — where the U.S. will playits games in the group stage.

And onFriday,FIBAannounced that the 2027 World Cupwas awarded toQatar.