Karl-Anthony Towns has announced that he wants to put the Dominican Republic on the map at the next World Cup, which will be held from August 25 to September 10, 2023. The competition will take place in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia ( for the first time in history) and KAT has already announced its desire to participate. What give a new dimension to an “aging” Dominican selection, but also cold sweats to the whole Wolves board…
10 years that “Special K” did not sport the tunic of the Dominican Republic. When he last appeared for his team (during the FIBA Americas in 2013), KAT… wasn’t even drafted yet. Worse, he was still playing in High School and won an honorary title of best athlete in the country. Memories, memories… Then on March 24, 2023, the announcement:
“This summer I want to play with the Dominican Republic. – Karl-Anthony Towns on ‘The Ringer Show’
Since 2013 the cat has grown well. Drafted in 1 in 2015, the interior of Minneapolis is one of the headliners of the NBA and its participation in the World Cup adds a little more hype around the competition. All the big names in world basketball will be there at the end of the summer: Team USA, Canada, Spain and even France, and this announcement confirms the revival of international competitions with the return of “big names ” in their selections, as was the case during the last EuroBasket in 2022 with a host of stars present such as Dončić, Giannis, Jokic or Markkanen.
The pool draw (8 pools of 4 teams) will take place on April 29 in Manila in the Philippines. We will then be fixed on the next opponents of the Dominican Republic. In the most golri scenarios, KAT might face Gobert and… Embiid, eye emoji, in the event that France fall to the Dominican Republic in their pool. Their qualification, the Dominicans obtained it with the sweat of their brows by beating in particular twice Argentina of the leader of Barça Laprovíttola. With a workforce made up of “old veterans” like Suero, Liz or Delgado (33, 34 and 35 years old) KAT will clearly be the X factor of this selection which floundered a bit in semolina during the last World Cup in 2019.
On the Wolves side, this announcement might in any case cause some concern given the physical and muscular fragility of the man. As a reminder, KAT missed a large part of this NBA season (only 23 games played) due to a calf injury. Returning to the courts recently to play a dirty trick on the Warriors, he was put to rest last night to preserve him (which did not prevent the Wolves from winning the Kings). It will therefore be necessary to take all the precautions around the Big Man at the end of his World Cup to avoid starting once more on a truncated season.
