CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three Cavaliers will play for their home countries in 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers this month, a team source told cleveland.com.
Center Tristan Thompson (Canada), forward Cedi Osman (Turkey), and center Ante Zizic (Croatia) are all expected to participate in the second round of the global tournament.
In Thompson's case, the Canadians are playing the Americas qualifier Sept. 13-17, while Osman's Turkish team and Zizic's Croatian team will compete in the European tournament over the same dates.
The 2019 World Cup is in China.
There are no Cavaliers on the American team, which consists of some G League players and, compared to the United States' star studded Olympic teams, unknown NBA players.