KYODO NEWS - Jul 30, 2019 - 12:55 | Sports, All

NBA players Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe were named Tuesday to the Japanese men's national team for next month's Basketball World Cup to be held in China.

The tournament will take place Aug. 31-Sept. 15 in eight Chinese cities, and will include a record 32 participating countries. The top seven ranked teams will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Apart from Hachimura, the Washington Wizards' No. 9 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and Watanabe, who will enter his second season with the Memphis Grizzlies, the Japanese team will feature B-League's leading scorer Nick Fazekas, Alvark Tokyo players Yudai Baba and Daiki Tanaka, and Utsunomiya Brex guard Makoto Hiejima.

Chiba Jets point guard Yuki Togashi, who fractured his right hand during national team training camp, was left out of the team led by Argentinean head coach Julio Lamas.

"I'm honored to become a part of the team," Hachimura said. "We'll come together and fight for one goal, the World Cup."