Montenegro and the Czech Republic each made their first appearance as independent nations after previously being part of Serbia and Montenegro and Czechoslovakia respectively, while Poland marked its return to the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time since 1967.

The defending champions, the United States, experienced their worst result at a World Cup, losing to France in the quarter-finals and Serbia in the subsequent classification game.

This was the first World Cup at which all three of the historically most successful teams (United States, Serbia/Yugoslavia and Russia/Soviet Union) failed to reach the semi-finals.

Asian powerhouse and hosts China failed to get out of the first round, losing in shocking upsets to Poland and Venezuela.

[3] It was the second time Spain had reached a World Cup final, and its second win, while for Argentina it would prove to be its second defeat in three attempts.

On 16 March 2015, it was confirmed that the World Cup would be staged in Asia, with China and Philippines as the final countries to be the basis for the selection of the host.

[5][6] On 7 August 2015, it was announced that China won the bid against the Philippines and will host the upcoming World Cup.

Starting 2019, no wild card selection was held, and the Olympic champions were not guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

Canada, China, Germany, Ivory Coast, Russia, and Tunisia were returning to the World Cup after missing out in 2014.

Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Mexico, Slovenia, and Ukraine were the teams that participated in 2014 that did not qualify in 2019.

Brazil and the United States qualified in 2019, continuing their streaks in participating in all World Cups.

[12][13] Several teams participated in official tournaments or in exhibition ones, either ad hoc or already existing ones, to prepare for the World Cup.

It was contested by Spain, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines.

The United States defeated Spain in the Honda Center in Anaheim, which was between the top two teams in the FIBA World Rankings.

[15] Australia's defeat of the United States in Marvel Stadium, Melbourne in the 2019 Australian International Basketball series was the first USA team's loss with NBA players since its 2006 FIBA World Championship semifinals loss to Greece.

Notably the US is missing over 30 of their best players, who opted out either due to injury, or to prepare for the NBA season.

[22] FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Global Ambassadors Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming, American singer and songwriter Jason Derulo, and Chinese idol singer Yang Chaoyue led the draw ceremony.

The logo's concept was inspired from the Beijing Opera where the actors symbolize concepts such as wisdom, persistence, power and perfection, which are prerequisite characteristics that the participating players of national team will need to exhibit "in order to succeed".

The logo design was also inspired from the Chinese Dragon Dance, a cultural tradition depicting a story of two flying dragons battling over a shining pearl which is meant to parallel the competition of national teams for the Naismith Trophy.

The magical horns of the mascot is described as having the ability to give the dragon "the power to see in the future, envisioning plays and moves before they actually happen".

[32] The song "Champion" was released on 24 July 2019, and performed by American singer-songwriter Jason Derulo featuring Chinese singer Tia Ray.

[33] The television rights holders by territory as follows: Australian center and NBA champion Andrew Bogut voiced concerns on the officiating in the semi-final match against Spain.

3-time NBA champion and Australian assistant coach was less accusative but also cited their run of luck with officiating when the two sides meet.