ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Antetokounmpo, Jokic among NBA stars who could play in Manila for World Cup group stage

Antetokounmpo, Jokic among NBA stars who could play in Manila for World Cup group stage

Published Apr 30, 2023 03:25 am
The Filipino fans are going crazy with the prospect of seeing some of the biggest and brightest stars in the world of basketball in Manila for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in August.

*Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum, Domantas Sabonis and Giannis Antetoukounmpo could be seeing action at the Mall of Asia Arena and Araneta Coliseum for the FIBA World Cup group stage (FIBA Photo)

*

With the Philippines hosting four groups in the preliminaries, Filipino fans could see a handful of NBA stars playing in flesh and up close at the Philippine Arena, Smart Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena from Aug. 25 to Aug. 30. In Gilas Pilipinas’ bracket alone, NBA players could reinforce their respective teams against the host squad in Group A.  World No. 10 Italy could only get stronger if its NBA players led by newly-minted NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero along with the likes of Danilo Gallinari and Marco Bellinelli commit to play in Manila for the world meet. Dominican Republic also has its own reinforcement with Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns expressing his interest playing for the Dominicana along with fellow NBA big Al Horford and guard Chris Duarte. Angola also has Rockets Bruno Fernando who could possibly lead the African team. Over at Group B, 2023 MVP race frontrunner Nikola Jokic is expected to see action for Serbia. Just like in 2019, he could be joined by streaky gunner Bogdan Bogdanovic and the humongous Boban Marjanovic. All eyes are also in the 'Group of Death" in Group C where European powerhouse Greece and world No. 2 USA could find themselves in an early collision course at the Mall of Asia Arena. USA, of course, is expected to be bannered by NBA superstars in the likes of Boston Celtics duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown who both saw action in the 2019 edition of the World Cup.  NBA All-Stars like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Anthony Davis and even LeBron James, who could be playing for his World Cup swan song, could join Team USA. Former league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo along with his brothers Thanasis and Kostas could also be spearheading Greece’s campaign. Group D, meanwhile, could see Chicago Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic returning to national team duty with Montenegro and Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis and New Orleans Pelicans’ Jonas Valanciunas playing for Lithuania.

Related Tags

Jayson Tatum 2023 FIBA World Cup Giannis Antetokounmpo Nikola Jokic
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.