Nick Kay: Forward named in reduced 19-man Tokyo Olympics squad

Kay, who recently completed his debut season in Spain, was on Thursday named in the Boomers' reduced 19-man squad for the Tokyo Olympics, which starts on July 23.

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The final team of 12, named early next month, will participate in exhibition matches against the United States, Nigeria and Argentina in Las Vegas as a final hit out before departing for Tokyo.

Kay's selection in the reduced squad, trimmed from the 24 players named in February, is a continuation of a stunning few years for the forward after becoming a Boomer for the first time.

His career highlights include a breakout performance for the Boomers at the 2019 World Cup, back-to-back championships with the Wildcats in 2019-20 and All-NBL first team selection in both those years.

He terminated the final two years of his Wildcats contract in order to pursue his dream of playing in Europe and improve his chances of being selected for Tokyo.

In the recently completed Liga ACB, Spain's premier basketball league, the 28-year-old averaged 7.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game over 36 games for Real Betis.

He had a season high 16 points against Acunsa GBC on October 31, and a season high 11 rebounds against Joventut Badalona on September 25.

In a statement, Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian said: "Having so many talented players is fantastic, but it will certainly make for a challenging selection process."

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