A 13-man Australian Boomers squad has been selected to play in a trio of warmup games in Melbourne, as preparation for the 2023 FIBA World Cup reaches its final stages.
The squad was selected following a nine-day training camp in Cairns, Queensland, and will need to be cut down to 12 ahead of the World Cup, which is one of the two major international basketball tournaments on the basketball calendar, to be held across three Asian countries from August 25 to September 10.
Nine players from the Boomers' bronze medal winning Tokyo Olympics campaign were named on the squad: Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Matisse Thybulle, Chris Goulding, Josh Green, Danté Exum, Nick Kay, and Duop Reath. Josh Giddey, currently Australia's most prolific NBA player, will play in his first major tournament for the Boomers and projects as the team's starting point guard. The squad is rounded out by Dyson Daniels, Xavier Cooks, and Jack White.
An 18-man squad traveled to Cairns for the training camp, and was gradually whittled down to the 13 selected on Wednesday. Thon Maker, Keanu Pinder, and Sam Froling were the first three cuts, before Matthew Dellavedova and Will McDowell-White joined them on Wednesday.
Jock Landale, a probable starter for the Boomers throughout this campaign, suffered a rolled ankle, and will likely miss the team's warmup games in Melbourne. He's expected to make a full recovery before the Boomers travel to Japan for the World Cup.
Before heading to Japan, the Boomers will play in a trio of warmup games in Melbourne: facing Venezuela on August 14, Brazil on August 16, and South Sudan on August 17.
A 12-man team will then be chosen, before the final group faces France in a final exhibition game in Tokyo on August 20.
The selection signals a generational shift for the Boomers, with the team leaning into its young talent, while ostensibly moving on from Dellavedova and Aron Baynes, both three-time Olympians who have been mainstays on the national team for the better part of a decade.
The Boomers were drawn into Group E for the World Cup, alongside Germany, Finland, and Japan. The Boomers will play their first two group phases in Okinawa, Japan, before traveling to Manila, Philippines for the finals games, should they qualify. Germany is coming off a third-place finish at the 2022 Eurobasket, Japan is the home team during the group phases, and Finland is will feature their NBA All-Star, Lauri Markkanen.
The Boomers finished the 2019 World Cup in fourth place, falling to France in the bronze medal game. The program is coming off its first medal in a major international tournament, winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Australian Boomers' 13-man squad: Xavier Cooks, Dyson Daniels, Danté Exum, Josh Giddey, Chris Goulding, Josh Green, Joe Ingles, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Patty Mills, Duop Reath, Matisse Thybulle, Jack White