Get used to this Angola team - they will be here for a while

MANILA (Philippines) - Angola have undergone a massive rebuild for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 going with a talented young team. The Africans are still alive to reach the Second Round, but the world better get used to these youngsters because they will be around for a long time.

Basketball fans who experience Angola only at World Cups will be rubbing their eyes wondering where are the long-time stars. The core from the 2019 World Cup - Olimpio Cipriano (37 years in 2019), Carlos Morais (33), Leonel Paulo (33), Eduardo Mingas (40) and the late Reggie Moore (38) - are all gone along with their combined 77 games of World Cup experience.

Eduardo Mingas and Carlos Morais at the 2019 World Cup

Instead, the roster for the African powerhouse features 25-year-olds NBA big man Bruno Fernando and whirlwind small guard Childe Dundao, the 24-year-old big man talents Jilson Bango and Silvio De Sousa, 21-year-olds Kevin Kokila and Dimitri Maconda and 19-year-old Eduardo Francisco - the latter who started Angola's first two World Cup games in 2023.

"We are betting on young guys. Everybody except two players are very young. And they will be here for the next 8-10 years," Angola’s Spanish coach Pep Claros said.

The two older players on the roster are 37-year-old Leonel Paulo and 34-year-old Antonio Monteiro, the former who is playing at his third World Cup following 2010 and 2019 to go along with five FIBA AfroBaskets and the 2008 Olympics.

"We are moving in the right direction. We understand that basketball doesn't last forever and there are generations to come and generations to go. We understand that we had an amazing group of guys who represented us for the last decades. We are coming here and piggybacking where they left off and continue to emphasise the hard work and keep Angola at the biggest stages worldwide," said Fernando.

"As somebody who still young but still being one of the oldest guys, I can definitely see a huge difference and I love what I see. It's a lot of young players. A lot of young players are starving and want to be here. And that's what is important - somebody to have the desire to be here and represent and play for the name in the front of us," added De Sousa, who is making his return to the national team after not playing since FIBA AfroBasket 2017.

Angola coach Pep Claros

"If we do this right we can be a really tough team for a long time. This can be the core for Angola at the World Cup in 2027 and 2031," Claros said.

In 2031, Fernando and Dundao will still only be 33 years old while Francisco could be in his prime at 27. Not to mention other young talents that the country produces between now and then.

World basketball fans … get used to seeing these Angolan players for a long time.

FIBA