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The Nigeria Basketball Federation announced a 49-player preliminary roster for the country’s Olympic roster. Three of those players are on the Miami Heat.
D’Tigers have 12 current NBA players on the 49-man preliminary roster. (3 from the @MiamiHEAT) And 19 guys total with NBA experience.
— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) June 22, 2021
Here is the full roster announced by @nbbfonline pic.twitter.com/7wjIAyCWVH
Precious Achiuwa, KZ Okpala and Gabe Vincent are all on the preliminary roster. The Heat drafted Achiuwa with the 20th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and they traded for Okpala in the second round of the 2019 Draft. Vincent has spent the last two seasons on a two-way contract with Miami.
Of course, with the Olympic roster needing to be culled to about 12 players, making the preliminary list is no guarantee to make the team. The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled for July 23. That could make it difficult to also attend the 2021 NBA Summer League, which will take place Aug. 8-17 in Las Vegas. The NBA did not hold a Summer League last year, preventing Achiuwa, Okpala and Vincent from improving.
Bam Adebayo has already committed to play for Team USA.
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