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Kobe Bryant received a message for American basketball: "Do not do [expletive] this place. "
Announced Tuesday night, the retired NBA superstar has been named world ambbadador for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
"Having grown up in Italy and spent many years in China, I've always enjoyed the global impact of basketball on positive youth development," Bryant said in a statement. "I am honored. FIBA invited me to serve as ambbadador for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
"I hope that my participation will inspire and motivate the best players from the 32 participating teams to represent their respective countries on the biggest stage in the world. I can not wait to see who will raise the trophy next year. "
Scheduled to unfold from August 31 to September 15, 2019 in China, the FIBA World Cup will host 32 teams qualified for the event.
Among the teams hoping to win their ticket to the tournament, there is Canada, which currently heads Group F in the second round of qualifying in the Americas, with two more windows of qualifying matches to play.
Canada will play Venezuela and Brazil on December 30 and 3, before completing its qualifying schedule against Chile and Venezuela on February 21 and 24 in St. John's, N.L.
With the 15 points and a differential of over 184 points that Canada is currently boasting in its group, the team appears to be well positioned to qualify for the World Cup and potentially reach its first Olympic Games since 2000 in Sydney, because the Olympic qualification will be directly at the heart out of the results of the World Cup.
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