Ricky Rubio intends to represent Spain in FIBA World Cup 2023 / News - Basketnews.com

Ricky Rubio wants to be in the upcoming FIBA World Cup: "If I'm healthy, I'd like to play."

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Spanish NT point guard Ricky Rubio was the MVP of the FIBA World Cup 2019 in China and was also Spain's best player at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Ricard Rubio

MIN:16.79PTS:5.71 (41.41%)REB:2.5As:3.79ST:1.07BL:0.14TO:0.71GM:14ProfileNBA2022/2023

The 32-year-old missed FIBA EuroBasket 2022 due to an ACL injury, but still, Spain managed to add another golden accolade to their glorious prize collection.

Head coach Sergio Scariolo had used international windows to bring younger players into the senior national team. Moreover, Spain made a brave move by naturalizing American guard Lorenzo Brown, one of the top five players at the previous EuroBasket.

No one will underestimate Spain this upcoming summer when the defending champions travel to the World Cup, which will be staged in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines.

Rubio wants to be there.

"I'm still getting back to a competitive rhythm and we're still far from the beginning of the tournament, so I have to be patient. If I'm healthy, I'd like to play, but we have many months to go and I did just come back to the court after many months out," Rubio told FIBA.basketball.

"The tournament is going to be very exciting, in three fantastic countries and I am sure that the fans are going to be very excited about the start of it," he continued.

"It's the world stage, everybody wants to compete at this level. Many very good teams qualified already, and everyone wants to bring a medal home and try to get in a great position knowing that we have two very good tournaments in the next two years, with the FIBA World Cup and the Olympics in Paris. Those are two very important years."

Credit FIBA.com

Spain has already qualified for the FIBA World Cup 2023 and will try to keep its title. Meanwhile, Rubio will try to repeat his MVP campaign.

What does he remember the most about the 2019 event in China?

"It was probably one of the best moments of my life," the Cleveland Cavaliers guard pointed out in an interview. "Winning a world title is so amazing, and knowing that many teams can reach that title and that you helped your country reach the top of the world, that is just fantastic, unique, unbelievable.

"When you play for the national team, you want to win, to bring joy to your fans and countrymen, and we had such a great tournament in 2019. The group of guys was amazing. This tournament was very, very competitive, and we had tough battles against many teams, but we achieved our goal of winning the world crown. I'll never forget this tournament and the joy that we felt when we lifted the trophy and took it home," Rubio said.

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