A bit of sad news for Canadian basketball fans as veteran forward Kelly Olynyk was mildly injured and ruled out of the FIBA world cup which is set to take place in China two weeks from now. The 28-year old star of the Miami Heat slipped on a wet spot and “crashed to the court while dribbling the ball he came up hobbled, looking to be favouring his right leg” (Miami Herald). The player sustained the injury in Canada’s opening exhibition game last week against Nigeria. The Miami heat announced that the player will be ready and well recovered for the first game of the NBA season. Unfortunately, Olynyk will also be missing three exhibition games against Australia, New Zealand and the United States which are scheduled in preparation for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
It is worth mentioning that the top 7 teams of the World Cup automatically qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while teams that don’ manage will have to relegate to qualifying tournaments played next summer.
Reactions to the injury
Kelly Olynyk’s injury steered up debate among fans about why superstars are withdrawing from playing for their national teams this summer. Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse reacted to the subject by saying
“I think the guys that play, whether for us, for the USA, or Senegal or whatever, they build some type of legacy about their careers. I use Kyle Lowry as the best example of that – this guy is a five-time All-Star, a world champion, a couple of gold medals under his belt, he’s just coming off surgery, and he wants to play. It’s either in your heart or it’s not.”
Olynyk has been playing for the Canadian team since 2010, launching his career by competing with the Gonzaga Bulldogs earning NCAA All-American honours in 2013. He was later drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 2013 where he was set to make his NBA debut before immediately being traded to the Boston Celtics. Olynyk will be representing the Canadian National team along with Canadian NBA players Cory Joseph of the Sacramento Kings and Orlando’s Khem Birch.
What does this mean for team Canada?
Canada opened camp last week to prepare for the road ahead with several core players missing including Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thomson and Dwight Powell, who all sustained various injuries recently or have abstained from joining. With major players absent, Canada will have to play its first game of the World Cup against Australia in Dongguan on September 1st. Besides, Canada will be competing with Lithuania and Senegal for the top two spots to advance to the second round. If team Canada manages to reach the top 7 they will earn a Tokyo berth. Qualifying for advanced rounds of the world cup means that teams will play right up until September 15th just a couple of weeks away from NBA teams’ pre-season training camp.
