The Utah Jazz will see five of their own take on the world in the FIBA World Cup.
The FIBA World Cup is right around the corner and the entire professional basketball world is taking a break from their regular schedule to accommodate this. While some of the biggest names in the game, like LeBron James, and some of the best names like Nikola Jokic, are sitting out, that doesn’t mean everyone is.
In fact, if we all agree that Jokic is the number one player in the world right now, and how could he not be, can we also agree that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic are the next two in any order? Both men are playing, with Antetokounmpo playing for Greece and Doncic for Slovenia.
They’re not the only top guys playing, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 8 in CBS Top 50 players list), Tyrese Haliburton (No. 16), Jalen Brunson (No. 29), Anthony Edwards (No. 30), and many more of the best NBA players in the world are taking their talents to the international level.
Yet, among NBA teams, there is only one squad sending more players than the Utah Jazz’s five to the FIBA tournament. And that team is none other than the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder will have more representatives than the Jazz, with six total.
Despite that, it’s only the Jazz who can take claim to a unique honor. No other team in the NBA can say they are supplying as many countries with players as the Utah Jazz. They’ll have five players playing for five different countries in the international games.
And because of that, we decided we would rank the impact and significance of each player on said team.