NBL Champion Headlines Star-Studded Japan

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Australia's World Cup opponents Japan have announced an extended squad ahead of the tournament.

Japan has announced an extended 25-man squad ahead of the upcoming FIBA World Cup, where they will take on the Australian Boomers in group play.

Former Melbourne United wing and NBL21 champion Yudai Baba has been included in the extended group, as have NBA talents Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hosts to feature significant star-power in their extended training camp roster ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForJapan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForJapan</a> ?? <a href="https://t.co/CTQA1qIktU">pic.twitter.com/CTQA1qIktU</a></p>— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 ? (@FIBAWC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1670719130234757125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Former Brisbane Bullet Makoto Hiejima has also been named to the squad.

Hachimura was selected with the ninth pick of the 2019 NBA Draft and finished the most recent NBA season playing alongside LeBron James at the LA Lakers, where he made 16 playoff appearances.

Watanabe has played almost 200 NBA games and played for the Brooklyn Nets last season.

Japan will play Australia, Germany and Finland in the upcoming World Cup, with all six Group E clashes to be held in Japan’s Okinawa Arena.

The tournament gets underway on Friday, August 25 and will run until Sunday, September 10.