It’s been a while since an active Knick played in the Olympics.
If you don’t count Evan Fournier in 2021 because he hadn’t played a game in the orange and blue yet, the last Knick to represent his country was Carmelo Anthony at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics for Team USA, winning a gold medal.
Aside from Melo? The list isn’t long:
- Patrick Ewing (Team USA, 1992)
- Allan Houston (Team USA, 2000)
- Stephon Marbury (Team USA, 2004)
- Pablo Prigioni (Argentina, 2012)
- Tyson Chandler (Team USA, 2012)
- José Calderón (Spain, 2016)
Beyond the simple fact that the team has been pretty bad for much of the last 34 years, since NBA players were allowed to be Olympians, the Knicks never had the PR to get
guys onto these teams.
But when you win a championship, I think the PR problem is solved.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Knicks are much more multicultural than they used to be. It wasn’t long ago that the average NBA team was 90% American, but now the team has a handful of guys who could go overseas and make teams that are inherently easier to make.
But two years out from the Olympics in Los Angeles, what does the international scene look like with FIBA Qualifiers ongoing and knowing what we know about eligibility across the board? Could we get multiple Olympians in 2028?
The Players
Off the top of my head, there are nine players currently on the roster with a chance to make an Olympic roster in 2028. A bunch of them could be off the team by the time the Olympics come around, but that’s too far off to think about.
Those nine players:
- Karl-Anthony Towns: Dominican Republic
- Jordan Clarkson: Philippines
- Jose Alvarado: Puerto Rico
- Mo Diawara: France
- Jack Kayil: Germany
- OG Anunoby: Great Britain/Nigeria
- Jalen Brunson: USA/Jamaica
- Josh Hart: USA
- Mikal Bridges: USA
Of course, there could be guys who we see as eligible with other countries not listed here, but these are the confirmed places a Knick could be eligible to play.
Only one team has currently clinched a spot in the Olympics: the hosts, Team USA. Everyone else will have to win their way in, either at the FIBA World Cup next summer or in a last-chance qualifying tournament in June 2028.
But first, prospective teams have to qualify for the FIBA World Cup, a process that is currently ongoing.
FIBA Qualifiers, Africa and Asia
As of Saturday, FIBA Africa is in their second and final round of qualifying, where five teams will earn berths to the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
The relevant group here for OG Anunoby and his possible candidacy with Nigeria (a team that Mike Brown coached back in 2021) is Group E, a six-team group that consists of a double round-robin format with 10 games played.
Nigeria finished in a three-way tie atop Group D in the first round, going 4-2 alongside Guinea and Tunisia.
But the second round format adds to your first round performance, so all six teams have between 9 and 11 points, with Cameroon in front with 11, Nigeria and three others with 10, and Cabo Verde with 9. The first of the 10 games will be played in late August.
Anunoby’s eligibility with Nigeria is predicated on his ancestry. His parents are both of Nigerian descent, and when asked about the possibility of playing in the Olympics in a recent interview with SLAM magazine, he was open to playing for any team he was eligible for, including Nigeria.
Switching gears to FIBA Asia is where we can find longtime Philippines national team member Jordan Clarkson’s squad, which will be looking to make their first Olympics since 1972.
They were drawn into a brutal Group A alongside Australia, New Zealand, and Guam in the first round, which concluded just over a week ago, but they progressed as a third-place team with a 2-4 record after beating down on the lowly U.S. territory that also managed to lose a game by 72 to the Aussies.
They now progress to the same second-round format as FIBA Africa, where they’ll be in Group E alongside Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Jordan, and Syria. The top four teams in the six-team group will advance, but with the results from the last round carrying over, the Philippines will have an uphill battle at only 2-4.
Clarkson played for his country as recently as the 2023 FIBA World Cup, where he averaged 26 points per game in an effort that wasn’t enough to make it to Paris. If his fellow Filipinos can claw their way to the World Cup, I’d bet on the 35-year-old to give it one last go to call himself an Olympian.
FIBA Qualifiers, Europe
There are three countries in question here, but only one of them we’d know that a player would certainly be included with the team.
Let’s start with Anunoby and his birth nation, Great Britain, which has unfortunately already been eliminated. They went a paltry 1-5 in Group D, which included Italy, Lithuania, and Iceland. If the hero of Game 4 of the NBA Finals wants to be an Olympian, he’s going to have to hope Nigeria gets into next year’s FIBA World Cup.
As for Germany and France, they both strolled into the second round. The Germans went 5-1 in Group E, tying atop the group with Croatia, while France topped Group G ahead of Finland, Hungary, and Belgium.
Germany now sits in Group K with Poland, Croatia, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Israel, a group that they only need to finish in the top three in. They already have a head start with their pre-existing record, but they’re going to have a boost in August with a very NBA-flavored group for the first two games.
France is in Group L, where a group headlined by Victor Wembanyama (for the late August games) will look to top a group containing Estonia, Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, and Sweden.
It’s safe to say that both are locks for the 2027 FIBA World Cup and, due to their large NBA presences, should be a lock for the Olympic Games, but we’ll see if Diawara or Kayil can get enough recognition to be an Olympian when that time comes.
FIBA Qualifiers, Americas
We know for sure that, if they qualify, Towns and Alvarado would love to represent their countries, but it’s up in the air if we’ll see either Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic make the Olympics.
The D.R. has the better chance. They went 4-2 in Group A, advancing after finishing second in a competitive group that included Team USA, which they knocked off in double round-robin play. They’ll advance to Group E along with the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, needing to finish top three to guarantee a spot in the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Puerto Rico had a disastrous first round of qualifying in Group B, qualifying by the skin of their teeth via tiebreaker after going just 2-4 in a group consisting of Canada, the Bahamas, and Jamaica, who are eliminated and thus kill the chance of Brunson playing for his grandparents’ nation.
In the new Group F, Puerto Rico is going to have to effectively run the table with Canada, Uruguay, and Argentina all carrying over 5-1 records in front of them. They’ll have a chance to make it as the higher-ranked fourth-place team, but would need to make up at least a game.
The USA Question
There are three players on the roster with experience playing for the United States, all at the previous World Cup in 2023: Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and Jalen Brunson.
As much as Derrick White has shown that role players have a place on Team USA in complimentary roles, it’d be extremely surprising if Hart or Bridges made the team. Would they even be asked to go back to the World Cup after the disaster in 2023?
The real question here is whether Brunson will get a chance to add an Olympic gold to his first-ballot Hall of Fame resume.
Even a few months ago, many believed he was on the outside looking in. ESPN itself didn’t even have him as the top snubbed guard, preferring two-time gold medalist Devin Booker over him. As you might expect, winning a championship changes minds.
There are some terrific American guards who are young and only getting better that he’ll have to compete with. Tyrese Maxey, Tyrese Haliburton, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell, etc. Would it even surprise anyone if Dylan Harper took a big leap over the next two years? Brunson will be nearing his 32nd birthday in August 2028.
But the fact he brought home the Larry O’Brien Trophy has secured his spot on the team, barring injury or major regression.
Think about what the roster is going to look like. Steph Curry and LeBron James are likely not going, having billed Paris as their last dance. The only “lock” who’s won a Finals is Jayson Tatum, and he’s nowhere near the leader that Brunson is. On a team that will consist of 20-somethings without championship experience, having the veteran Brunson will be an asset, even if he won’t be the man taking the most shots. Imagine Haliburton playing the 1 and Brunson being off-ball around him?
Oh yeah, there’s also the fact that maybe JB’s biggest fan is confirmed as the LA28 head coach, Erik Spoelstra.
