Miami Heat: Kelly Olynyk to miss FIBA World Cup for Team Canada

Kelly Olynyk will miss the FIBA World Cup for Team Canada with a knee bruise, leaving the Miami Heat without representation in China for the competition.

They took an odd route to get here, but the Miami Heat are going to be shut out of the FIBA World Cup in China at the end of the month. Bam Adebayo didn’t make the cut for Team USA, and now Kelly Olynyk‘s bruised knee bone will hold him out of the competition for Team Canada.

There had been hope that while he would miss Team Canada camp, he might be able to get back in action before the World Cup began, but those hopes were faint and never likely.

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel speculated about his estimated return:

A knee bone bruise can have a wide range of recovery times, so the optimistic forecast that his return could be on the shorter end of the spectrum wasn’t outrageous, but the hope now is that he doesn’t miss time in training camp and preseason for the Heat.

Injury is always a risk with offseason international training and games, but with any luck this misfortune won’t hold him out when training camps begin across the NBA at the end of September.

Olynyk impressed head coach Erik Spoelstra last season, so much so that he earned a spot as the starting power forward for most of the last couple months of the season, playing in the front court alongside fellow World Cup hopeful Bam Adebayo.

The Miami Heat performed well when he played with the starters, so while injuries make it difficult to sort out just who was good where and with whom last season, it does appear that they had a good thing going with Olynyk and Adebayo in the starting lineup.

With any luck, Kelly Olynyk’s recovery will be swift and full, and he can pick up where he left off last season.