Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell (Toronto, ON) will not play for Canada at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, The New York Times' Marc Stein reports.
The Mavericks' Dwight Powell is withdrawing from Canada's @FIBAWC team in China to focus on the upcoming season in Dallas, league sources say. Canada also lost the Knicks' RJ Barrett this week
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 2, 2019
As Stein mentions, he joins New York Knicks rookie RJ Barrett who announced earlier this week that he will not participate in the FIBA World Cup while nursing a calf injury sustained in the Las Vegas Summer League.
This delivers a blow to Canada's roster as Powell was expected to make a significant impact for the team's frontcourt. The Toronto native is coming off of a season where he averaged a career-high 10.6 points to go with 5.3 rebounds per game for the Mavs.
His promising season and upside potential was enough for Dallas to offer the 28-year old forward a three-year, $33 million extension at the beginning of this offseason.
Canada's training camp will begin on Aug. 4 in Toronto at the OVO Athletic Centre. The team will then play two exhibition games against Nigeria - one in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Aug. 7, the other in Winnipeg at Bell MTS Place on Aug. 9.
The FIBA World Cup begins on Aug. 31 and ends on Sept. 15. Canada is in Group H with Senegal, Lithuania and Australia.