FIBA approves new dates for Tokyo Olympic basketball qualifiers

Screenshot of FIBA's official website

FIBA, the world basketball governing body, on Thursday announced the date of the postponed men's Olympic qualifying tournaments: June 29 to July 4, 2021, in the same locations – Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia.

Originally the games had been scheduled to take place this year, but as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Tokyo Olympics to be delayed to 2021, FIBA had to postpone the basketball qualifying tournaments.

Nikola Jokic of Serbia reacts in ae FIBA Basketball World Cup game against Team USA at the Dongguan Basketball Center in south China's Guangdong Province, September 12, 2019. /VCG

With eight teams – Japan, USA, Argentina, Australia, France, Iran, Nigeria, Spain – already qualified for Tokyo, there are four spots left for 24 teams to compete for. Moreover, the rescheduling just brought new challenges to some of them.

Usually, most of the NBA players will be able to play for their national teams during this period of time – all the games would have been over, but not this time. The 2019-20 season is still suspended because of the coronavirus. Even if it can be finished, the 2020-21 season is highly unlikely to be over on its usual schedule, which is before June 25.

That means Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic may not be able to contribute to taking their teams to the Summer Olympics.

Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets shoots in a practice session of the Canadian men's national basketball team at the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto, August 5, 2019. /VCG

"Representing your country is one of the greatest honors in sport," said Canada Basketball president and CEO Glen Grunwald. "I know our players will see the challenge ahead of them next summer as one small opportunity to recognize the daily sacrifices of all the front-line workers who are keeping our country safe and operating during this pandemic."

By contrast, China don't have any NBA players and will probably see the strengths of the two opponents in their group, Greece and Canada, whittled down. Nonetheless, that does not necessarily raise China's hopes of making the Olympics. In the FIBA Basketball World Cup last year, China, the hosts, lost to Poland and Venezuela who had no NBA players at all. Canada aside, Greece are a strong team even without Antetokounmpo. Therefore, the Olympic qualifying tournaments in Victoria may still be a chance for China to test different squads.