Though the NBA season isn't for another month and a half, basketball on the international stage has taken the sport's headlines as the FIBA World Cup is currently underway.
Many recent Los Angeles Lakers, both on the current roster and those signed with new teams, have been showing out for their countries, including one name contributing for a team that's been the surprise of the tournament thus far.
Wenyen Gabriel alongside his fellow countrymen of South Sudan were largely an afterthought considering their collective age on both the roster and of the nation itself.
Established as a nation in 2011, the nation clinched an Olympic tournament berth automatically for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Joining those with similar purple and gold ties in Austin Reaves for Team USA and Dennis Schroder for the German side, Gabriel's nation went an impressive 3-2 in their five game showing to clinch their spot at the Olympics next year.
Though South Sudan failed to reach the knockout stages with their record, coming away from a major international tournament with a result of this caliber has to be a massive success all things considered.
Gabriel unfortunately will have to watch the rest of the tournament play out from home like the rest of us as Reaves and the American squad look poised to square off against his previous teammate in the backcourt should Germany and Schroder beat Latvia in their next game.
It'd be a fun matchup with some friendly competition for the former Laker playoff backcourt appear headed for a collision course for a right to go to the World Cup Final near the end of this month.
Though not stars for LA either in the past or present, the international stage has proven to be a spotlight for those like Gabriel, Reaves and Schroder to really thrive for their respective nations.
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