Mavs big man Dwight Powell has decided to withdraw from Team Canada ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, according to a report from Marc Stein of the New York Times.
Stein reports that Powell will instead use this summer to focus on his upcoming season with Dallas. Powell isn't the only notable Canadian player to pull out of this year's FIBA tournament. Knicks rookie RJ Barrett announced that he too will be training for the coming NBA season with his down time.
The Mavericks' Dwight Powell is withdrawing from Canada's @FIBAWC team in China to focus on the upcoming season in Dallas, league sources say. Canada also lost the Knicks' RJ Barrett this week
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 2, 2019
Powell, now 28 years of age and entering his sixth season of NBA service, hails from Toronto, Ontario. The former Stanford Cardinal made 77 appearances with the Mavs last season (22 starts), racking up averages of 10.6 points on 59.7 percent shooting from the field (30.7 percent from beyond the arc), 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.6 minutes per outing.
For a variety of reasons, several notable NBA players have decided to forgo or withdraw from this year's FIBA competition, including James Harden, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Kevin Love, DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal and No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. In fact, 12 players have withdrawn from Team USA's roster this month.
Although some of the bigger names have withdrawn from the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Team USA will still have quite a bit of talent. Players still committed include: Jaylen Brown, Mason Plumlee, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, Thaddeus Young, Harrison Barnes, Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, P.J. Tucker, Myles Turner, Kemba Walker and Bam Adebayo.
Team Canada's first matchup of this year's FIBA tournament comes against Australia on September 1. Then the Canadian side will face Lithuania (September 3).
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