Former NBA center Thon Maker was among the three players who were cut from the Australia Boomers team less than a month before the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
According to a report by the NBL, the six-year NBA veteran, along with Keanu Pinder and Sam Froling, were left out of head coach Brian Goorjian’s 15-man roster.
Maker is well-known to Filipino basketball fans because he was involved in a “basketbrawl” with the Gilas Pilipinas during the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers as part of the Boomers team.
Goorjian said that cutting Maker, Pinder, and Froling was the hardest decision he made, as the three players were among the hardest workers during their training camp.
“This is an elite squad with so much talent that there is no easy way to make cuts, but the reality is that we only get to take 12 into Okinawa,” Goorjian said in an article posted on the NBL’s website.
“Would I take all of these players if I could? Absolutely, but that’s the hardest part of sport; you have to make the cuts, and we have to keep moving forward,” he added.
The Boomers team remains formidable with NBA players Josh Giddey and Jack White of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dante Exum and Josh Green of the Dallas Mavericks, Patty Mills of the Atlanta Hawks, Joe Ingles of the Orlando Magic, Xavier Cooks of the Washington Wizards, Dyson Daniels of the New Orleans Pelicans, Jock Landale of the Houston Rockets, and Matisse Thybulle of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Also in the final 15 are former NBA player Matthew Dellavedova, Chris Goulding, Nick Kay, Will McDowell-White, and Duop Reath.
The Boomers are bracketed with FIBA World Cup co-host Japan, Germany, and Finland in Group E and will play their group stage matches in Okinawa, Japan.
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