There have been plenty of NBA call-offs, drop-outs and pull-outs from the 2014 FIBA World Cup, but that doesn’t mean that there are no big name players to cheer on. If you are a lover of the NBA, you will have plenty of players to look out for.
In fact, there are 45 players from the NBA featuring in the 2014 FIBA World Cup rosters. This is up one from the 44 that were listed on the 2010 roster and the tournament will play host to a total of 75 players that have spent time in the NBA.
There will also be 17 players who are former NBA draftees whose rights are held by teams from the NBA. A total of 21 teams from the total of 24 have at least one NBA associated player and 22 teams from the NBA will be represented at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. If you have a favourite team and are keen to cheer on a country based on the player or players you recognise, there is a lot on offer in Spain in the next fortnight.
Big moments need big players
When it comes to making big decisions or carrying out big plays at the most important times, it is likely that the NBA players will have the confidence and experience to pull things off. There is a great deal of pressure in the NBA and it is reasonable to assume that some of the big name players will be able to handle the pressure involved with the World Cup.
This may be something to bear in mind when you are placing bets. There is no guarantee of any event or outcome but when things are tight and a lot of people are feeling nervous, it is likely that the players who are used to pressurised moments will be more likely to be the ones that pull off game changing or winning moments. Now that the World Cup is up and running, you can find plenty of basketball prop bets, which means you can back your favourite players if you think that they will make the difference in a game, group or tournament.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have four players involved at the FIBA World Cup, as do the Houston Rockets, while the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz all have three players on international duty in Spain.
The players of the NBA involved at the 2014 FIBA World Cup are:
- Luis Scola
- Pablo Prigioni
- Cameron Bairstow
- Matthew Dellavedova
- Dante Exum
- Brock Motum
- Anderson Varejao
- Tiago Splitter
- Nenê
- Bojan Bodgdanovic
- Damjan Rudez
- Francisco Garcia
- Erik Murphy
- Evan Fournier
- Nicolas Batum
- Boris Diaw
- Rudy Gobert
- Kostas Papanikolaou
- Nick Calathes
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Donatas Motiejunas
- Jonas Valanciunas
- Jorge Gutierrez
- J.J. Barea
- Gorgui Dieng
- Goran Dragić
- Pau Gasol
- Marc Gasol
- Ricky Rubio
- José Calderon
- Serge Ibaka
- Victor Claver
- Omer Asik
- Mason Plumlee
- Derrick Rose
- Kyrie Irving
- Kenneth Faried
- Andre Drummond
- Stephen Curry
- Klay Thompson
- James Harden
- Anthony Davis
- DeMarcus Cousins
- Rudy Gay
- DeMar DeRozan
The current free agents who will be looking to have a great World Cup in the hope of picking up a new team are:
- Aron Baynes
- Leandro Barbosa
- Gustavo Ayon
- Andray Blatche
- Miroslav Raduljica
The former NBA players taking part in the FIBA World Cup are:
- Walter Herrmann
- Andres Nocioni
- David Andersen
- Nathan Jawai
- Alex Garcia
- Marcus Vinicius
- Oliver Lafayette
- Damir Markota
- Roko Ukic
- Hanno Möttölä
- Mickael Gelabale
- Andreas Glyniadakis
- Hamed Haddadi
- Kirk Penney
- Carlos Arroyo
- Renaldo Balkman
- Daniel Santiago
- Hamady N’Diaye
- Nenad Krstic
- Uroš Slokar
- Rudy Fernandez
- Juan Carlos Navarro
- Sergio Rodriguez
- Pooh Jeter
- Slava Kravtsov
This is not to say that players out with the NBA won’t have an impact or produce some special moments but when it comes to recognising top class talent, there is no doubt that it is the players of the NBA that many basketball fans will instinctively recognise.
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