# Panama men's national basketball team

The Panama men's national basketball team (Spanish: selección de baloncesto de Panamá) represents Panama in men's international basketball competitions, The team represents both FIBA and FIBA Americas.
With four qualifications to the Basketball World Cup, one qualification to the Olympic Games, and one medal at the Pan American Games, Panama has traditionally been the dominant basketball power in Central America.

## Tournament record
### Olympic Games

* 1968 – 12th

### FIBA World Cup

* 1970 – 9th
* 1982 – 9th
* 1986 – 19th
* 2006 – 21st

### Pan American Games

* 1951 – 6th
* 1967 – (3rd place)
* 1971 – 6th
* 1979 – 7th
* 1987 – 6th
* 2007 – 5th

### FIBA AmeriCup

* 1984 – 4th
* 1989 – 11th
* 1992 – 8th
* 1993 – 8th
* 1999 – 9th
* 2001 – 6th
* 2005 – 5th
* 2007 – 9th
* 2009 – 8th
* 2011 – 8th
* 2015 – 7th
* 2017 – 12th
* 2022 – 11th
* 2025 – Qualified

### Central American Championship

* 1995 – 4th place
* 1999 – 4th place
* 2001 – (3rd place)
* 2004 – (3rd place)
* 2006 – (1st place)
* 2008 – 6th
* 2010 – (3rd place)
* 2012 – 4th
* 2014 – 5th

## Team
### Current roster

Roster for the 2022 FIBA AmeriCup.

### Head coach position

* Nolan Richardson: 2005
* Guillermo Vecchio: 2006
* Nolan Richardson: 2007

### Past rosters

1968 Olympic Games: finished 12th among 16 teams
Davis Peralta, Norris Webb, Luis Sinclair, Pedro Rivas, Eliecer Ellis, Calixto Malcom, Nicolás Noé Alvarado, Ernesto Arturo Agard, Francisco Checa, Julio Osorio, Pércibal Eduardo Blades, Ramón Reyes (Coach: Eugenio Luzcando)
1970 World Championship: finished 9th among 13 teams
Davis Peralta, Luis Sinclair, Pedro Rivas, Ernesto Arturo Agard, Julio Osorio, Pércibal Eduardo Blades, Julio Andrade, Herbert Cousins, Ronald Walton, Cecilio Straker, Mario Peart, Hector Montalvo (Coach: Carl Pirelli Minetti)
1982 World Championship: finished 9th among 13 teams
Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Rolando Frazer, Mario Butler, Rodolfo Gill, Fernando Pinillo, Reggie Grenald, Braulio Rivas, Arturo Brown, Mario Galvez, Adolfo Medrick, Eddie Joe Chávez, Alfonso Smith (Coach: Jim Baron)
1986 World Championship: finished 19th among 24 teams
Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Mario Butler, Rolando Frazer, Reggie Grenald, Rodolfo Gill, Fernando Pinillo, Braulio Rivas, Adolfo Medrick, Cirilo Escalona, Mario Gálvez, Enrique Grenald, Daniel Macias (Coach: Frank Holness)
2006 World Championship: finished 21st among 24 teams
Ed Cota, Rubén Garcés, Jaime Lloreda, Ruben Douglas, Michael Hicks, Maximiliano "Max" Gómez, Eric Omar Cardenas, Kevin Daley, Antonio Enrique García, Jair Peralta, Jamaal Levy, Dionisio Gómez (Coach: Guillermo Edgardo Vecchio)
At the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship:

## Panama Pipeline

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, various Panama players played their college basketball in the United States at NAIA school Briar Cliff College as part of head coach Ray Nacke's "Panama Pipeline". Some of the members included national team members Rolando Frazier, Ernesto "Tito" Malcolm, Mario Butler, Eddie Warren, Reggie Grenald, and Mario Galvez. These players helped Briar Cliff to many NAIA Regional Championships, National Tournament appearances, and in 1981 the Chargers were ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA's final regular season poll.
The new millennium brought another set of very good players from Panama, coming out of the local Superior Basketball Circuit (CBS), the under 21 team, and local players in Division 1 Universities in the United States. Since 2000, Panama has gone to 4 preolympic tournaments, 5 pre-world championships, one world championship (Japan 2006), and one youth basketball olympics (Singapore 2010). The local program is based in neighborhood leagues that collect talent and export it to the United States. This symbiotic action produces the talent for the National Team.
Usually underrated and underestimated, Panama Basketball always manages to qualify to big tournaments and give stunning surprises, such as beating the United States in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007. Its long basketball tradition dating back to 1904, and its street basketball mentality of fighting hard to the end in basketball games, has made this Central American basketball program a "Classic" in the international scene.

## Kit
### Manufacturer

2015: Nike