The Japanese men’s national basketball team isn’t one that has a long history of success. Their best finish in the Olympics was 9th. In 1936. They are 5-22 all time in FIBA World Cup play. They haven’t medaled in the FIBA Asia Cup since 1997.
Despite being one of the three host countries for the 2023 FIBA World Cup — along with the Philippines and Indonesia — there isn’t much hype around the team FIBA has ranked as the 36th best team in the world. They are in Group E with Australia, Germany (who they lost to on Friday), and Finland.