Peachtree Hoops: 2023 FIBA World Cup: Which Hawks have stood out so far?

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Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

The time has now come — as it is every fourth offseason or so — for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. This cycle, the event is being hosted in three different countries for the first time: the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. In addition, a record 32 teams from around the world have gathered to participate to compete for gold.

Trae Young, who openly lobbied for a spot on the American team, was not chosen to the 12-man roster. Still, Team USA has barely been tested in three group play games and have moved on to the next group round, which will determine the eight teams moving on to the final knockout tournament.

There is a lot of international flair on what projects to be the 2023-24 Atlanta Hawks roster. With all due respect to Hawks of the past such as Edy Tavares and Dennis Schröder, let’s check in on how the current Hawks are doing in the FIBA tournament after the initial group round.

Bogdan Bogdanovic

With ‘Bogi’ and breakout player Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat, Serbia is a contender for a medal, so we may get a long look at Atlanta’s sharpshooter for the next two weeks. Even without two-time MVP and reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, the Serbian national basketball team has already advanced to the knockout tournament portion of the competition in comfortable 3-0 fashion.

Bogdanovic has registered 18.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists through the first three games of his campaign in Southeast Asia as of writing. That stat line won’t hold by the time this piece goes up, however, as Serbia faces off against Italy at 4 AM EST on September 1 — their first game of the second group stage.

Patty Mills

Nowadays Australia has a long streak of getting native sons to the NBA, but that wasn’t always the case. This Australian national team features a record nine players currently in the big league. Still, new Hawk Patty Mills is one of the longtime NBA veterans leading the charge for the Boomers.

Through three group games, Mills is averaging 19 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals per contest. Even as the ripe age of 35, Mills is still proving he has something left in the tank — something that should come as music to Hawks’ fans ears in the search for the third guard on the depth chart.

Australia has also clinched the top spot in the Oceania group at the FIBA World Cup — giving them an automatic qualifying spot for the 2024 Olympics — so we may see Mills on the international stage once again next summer.

Bruno Fernando

Bruno Fernando, the first Angolan in NBA history, helped lead the Angolan national basketball team in first round play. But after a win and two losses, they have not qualified to advance and are instead slated for no better than a 17th ranked finish. Angola has thus been moved into the classification group play, so while these games won’t give them a chance at an international medal, Angola still has the six total games to prove their worth to the world.

Through four games, Fernando is averaging 14.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game as the de facto focal point of the team. Fernando had his salary guaranteed for the upcoming season, but will once again have to fight for rotation minutes in 2023-24.

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