There is no doubt that the rest of the world is catching up with the United States when it comes to basketball. There are so many international players in the NBA at this point and some are even dominating the league. An international player has won MVP each of the last 4 seasons, with the winner and runner-up being a foreigner on the last two occasions.
Those two would, of course, be Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, both of whom were in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s starting five of international players. He picked his team to beat a starting five he made of American players and while they could potentially come out on top, the fact is you would have to bring all the nations together to stand a chance against Team USA. There still isn’t a nation in the world that can really take them on, but someone has managed to overtake them in the latest FIBA rankings.
Team USA’s Twitter Account Reacted To Spain Being Ranked No. 1 In The World
FIBA released their rankings on Friday and for the first time in their history, Spain has become the no. 1 ranked side in the world. They just about got ahead of the U.S., thanks to their recent triumph at EuroBasket.
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚:
Spain seize the #1 spot for the first time in FIBA Men’s World Ranking history! 👑 🇪🇸
📊 See the full rankings here, presented by @Nike:https://t.co/iPTz2JGlZ8 pic.twitter.com/yea77qbAgV
— FIBA Basketball (@FIBA) November 18, 2022
It probably won’t last for too long, but it is a monumental moment for Spanish basketball. It is also the first time since 2010 that the U.S. doesn’t occupy the top spot and it is safe to say they aren’t too happy about it.
LOL. That's cute.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) November 18, 2022
“LOL. That’s cute.”
The U.S. showed they are still the top dog when they won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and en route to the gold, they beat Spain in the quarter-finals. It still wasn’t enough to hold on to the top spot though, as this new ranking system that has been in place since 2017, takes into account the results of the last 8 years.
Spain just about edges ahead of them in terms of results during that time, like at the last FIBA World Cup, where they came out on top while the U.S. finished 7th. They’ll get a chance to make amends for it next year and they most probably will.
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