Robert Sacre will look to help his country back to the Olympic stage, as he will play for the Canadian Men’s National Team this week at the Tuto Marchand Continental Cup in Puerto Rico.
Sacre, who previously played for Team Canada at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, is part of a 13-man roster for the exhibition tournament that also features Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
The Vancouver native also represented Canada at the 2006 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship and enjoyed an All-West Coast Conference college career near the Canadian border at Gonzaga.
Sacre — who averaged 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 16.9 minutes for the Lakers last season —joins Boston’s Kelly Olynyk as the only centers on the team. The pair will be joined by a group of fellow NBA players — Anthony Bennett, Melvin Ejim, Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson, Dwight Powell, Nik Stauskas and Andrew Wiggins — for the tournament, which runs from Sunday through Wednesday.
Following the Tuto Marchand Cup, only one player will be cut from the team. The remaining 12 players will represent Canada at the 2015 FIBA Americas Men’s Championship in Mexico City from Aug. 21-Sept. 12. The first- and second-place teams at the FIBA Americas qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.