International basketball fans won’t catch Tacko Fall fever this summer.
The Boston Celtics center wasn’t among the 16 players Senegal’s basketball federation named to its national team Tuesday for the second phase of its preparations for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Fall had been on Senegal’s preliminary 24-man roster but will be returning to the United States to focus making Boston’s opening night roster, according to The Athletic’s Jared Weiss.
Senegal will visit Turkey on Monday in a World Cup warm-up game. The Lions will compete with Canada, Lithuania and Australia in Group H of the 2019 World Cup.
The World Cup will take place between Aug. 31 and Sept. 15 in China.
Fall continues to work out in Senegal and receive occasional FaceTime calls from his Celtics teammates, with the start of Celtics training camp looming over the horizon.
The 2019 World Cup will come too soon to serve as Fall’s breakout party on the global stage, as the coming months and years will determine whether he becomes an international impact player.
