Returning to the national team after 10 years, Towns matched with Horford at the FIBA World Cup?
While other teams are starting to shorten the list to 14 people, the Dominican Republic has now announced its preliminary list ahead of the FIBA World Cup.
Accordingly, the Dominican Republic will likely have the service of 3 NBA stars, including Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves), Al Horford (Boston Celtics) and Chris Duarte (Sacramento Kings).
Towns has just had a short season with only 29 games in the main season and 5 Playoffs and needs more playing time to accumulate feelings.
He once affirmed that he would definitely attend this year's World Basketball Cup, marking his return to the national team after a 10-year absence, since the 2013 FIBA AmeriCup.
With Al Horford, his time away from the team is longer than that, since the 2012 Olympic qualifiers. He also withdrew at the last minute at the World Cup four years ago.
Duarte is a rare NBA star to participate in the World Cup qualifiers. The former Indiana Pacers player played 2 games, averaging 15.5 points in those 2 encounters.
Among the remaining faces, there are Andres Feliz and Eloy Vargas, players who participated in all qualifying matches, where the Dominican Republic won 9 of 12 matches to take second place in Group E in the Americas region.
Another case that also left a strong mark in the qualifying round is Jean Montero. The 20-year-old player scored 22 points in the Dominican Republic's decisive victory over Argentina, helping this team reach the finals for the third time in a row.
Before shortening the squad, the American representative will have matches with Puerto Rico, Latvia, Spain and Canada to warm up, before going to Manila to compete with hosts Philippines, Angola and Italy in Group A.
