BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Window 5 week at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers is here! It’s high stakes in the Qualifiers as usual with World Cup tickets still left to be collected which means the teams are still parading their big stars onto the court.

When we say “big” stars, we also mean it in the literal sense. There are some super-sized players ready to showcase their talents once again in this Asian Qualifiers window. It’ll be difficult to miss them - both because of their size and skills.

Here are the players to watch in this window of the Asian Qualifiers!

Kai Sotto (Philippines)

The 2.16M (7’1”) youngster is back for a second consecutive World Cup Qualifiers window after averaging 13.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in July. Sotto was a joy to watch as he connected with his teammates, notably Jordan Clarkson, multiple times for highlight plays.

Sotto could be expected to have an elevated role with Gilas for their away games against Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which will certainly be interesting to see in action. We’ve been watching Sotto almost non-stop since 2017, so it’s easy to forget that he’s still only 20-years-old and that there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Hopefully, we get to see some of that development on the court during this window.

Hamed Haddadi (Iran)

Haddadi is not a young buck like the aforementioned Sotto, but he definitely does not let that get in his way. The seasoned veteran is averaging a double-double in three games across 2 windows with 15.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.7 blocks per game.

Fans can always count on Haddadi putting up big statistical performances, and they should be able to expect the same in the upcoming window with Iran as well.

Zhou Qi (China)

This window of the Asian Qualifiers will be intriguing as it will be the first time in a FIBA competition since 2015 that China and Iran have played against each other. Zhou Qi (then 19 years old) and Haddadi faced against each other in that game with Zhou putting up 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

The two did face each other again in the Final of Asian Games 2018 (with China winning once again), so it will definitely fun to see how the third part of this act goes.

Zhou is easily among the top players so far in the Asian Qualifiers after 4 windows with averages of 17.6 points (4th among qualified players), 10.4 rebounds (3rd among qualified players), and 2.1 blocks per game (3rd among qualified players).

What he would want the most, however, is to come out of this window with another win over Haddadi and Iran and punch China’s ticket to the World Cup.

Wang Zhelin (China)

There were some doubts about Zhou’s availability for China heading into the window after it was announced that he had sustained a calf injury while training with his professional club in Australia.

He’s now more hopeful to play after being listed on the roster for this window, but in the case that China want to rest their star center, they can always still turn to Wang Zhelin.

The 2.12M (6’11”) center has been tearing it up in the Chinese Basketball Association for a while now and continues to play a large part with the national team, too. In 7 games through the World Cup Qualifier, Wang has averaged 8.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Should China need more production from inside at some point during this window, Wang could be the one they turn to.

Sam Froling (Australia)

Froling has not commanded the headlines as the other towering presences so far in this list, but he’s been more than solid with the Boomers in 5 games played across 2 windows.

The 2.12M (6’11”) center is averaging 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for Australia. He’s also been consistant for most of the part with no games scoring less than 6 points and only one game with less than 6 rebounds.

He might not blow you away, especially with the way Australia plays and goes through their rotation, but Froling has been a key part of their undefeated run and it’s not hard to see why.

Anzac Rissetto (New Zealand)

The Tall Blacks are already qualified for the World Cup so there’s less pressure on them in Window 5. This allows them to open up some opportunities for youngsters to showcase their talents, like former Junior Tall Black Rissetto here who played at the U17 World Cup in 2018.

Rissetto was listed at 2.02 (6’8”) back at the U17 World Cup where he averaged 6.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. However, he’s since been listed at 2.08M (6’10”) on other competitions. We’ll get to see how well he can utilize that size in his senior Tall Blacks debut as they go up against Lebanon and Jordan.

FIBA