Day 1 at the FIBA World Cup: KAT, Gobert, NAW and Spagnolo recaps
The Timberwolves have an NBA-high six players taking part in this year's FIBA World Cup, which officially tipped off Friday.
Four of the Wolves' six representatives were in action on the first day of the tournament, including Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Rudy Gobert (France), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Canada) and Matteo Spagnolo (Italy). Let's dive into how they performed...
The biggest game of the day, Canada vs. France, featured two Wolves playing against each other with Alexander-Walker coming off the bench for Canada and Gobert starting for one of the tournament favorites in France. That tournament favorite status didn't last long as Canada put a beating on France in a 95-65 blowout.
Gobert managed eight points, nine rebounds, one assist and one block in 27 minutes Alexander-Walker scored 12 points in 20 minutes.
The Wolves' best performer of the day was Towns, who scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds in the Dominican Republic's 87-81 win over Philippines.
Spagnolo, who was selected 50th overall by Minnesota in the 2022 NBA Draft, started on Italy's bench in their 81-67 win over Angola. The 20-year-old guard recorded two rebounds and one steal in seven minutes of game time.
Meanwhile, former Timberwolves center and current President of the Basketball Federation of Montenegro, Nikola Pekovic, was in attendance for Montenegro's 91-71 win over Mexico Friday morning.
Anthony Edwards and Team USA play Saturday against New Zealand, with tipoff set for 7:40 a.m. CT. Kyle Anderson is in action Saturday with China against Serbia.
