Several coaches leading teams at the World Cup have NBA or North American ties

By The Associated Press

Some of the World Cup coaches with ties to the NBA or North America:

___

TIM CONE

Assistant coach, Philippines

Cone is a national coaching legend in the Philippines, a winner of more than two dozen league championships during his career there. He’s Oregon-born, like U.S. assistant Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat — who has deep ties to the Philippines since it’s his mother’s homeland. Cone served as an assistant on the Heat staff at NBA Summer League in 2022.

ROY RANA

Head coach, Egypt

The Canadian coach was previously an assistant for Sacramento.

GORDON HERBERT

Head coach, Germany

Born in Canada, Herbert played college basketball in Idaho and was a Toronto assistant for one season. He’ll be assisted at the World Cup by Orlando assistant Bret Brielmaier.

ROYAL IVEY

Head coach, South Sudan

A veteran of 10 NBA seasons, Ivey will lead South Sudan into the World Cup.

TOM HOVASSE

Head coach, Japan

The Colorado-born Hovasse played in two NBA games in 1994, had a long stint playing in Japan, led the Japanese women in the the Tokyo Olympics and now has the country’s men’s team. One of his assistants is Corey Gaines, who played briefly for four NBA teams and was coach of the 2009 WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury.

JORDI FERNANDEZ

Head coach, Canada

Fernandez took over when Nick Nurse — the former Toronto coach — was hired by Philadelphia. An NBA assistant for nearly a decade now, Fernandez currently serves on Mike Brown’s staff in Sacramento.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports