At the time FIBA world number 1 ranked Argentina claimed the bronze medal, over fourth placed Canada.

[1] The hosting privileges were originally awarded to Mexico but were later removed by FIBA Americas due to issues involving the sponsorship of the event.

The other countries that already qualified were then informed by FIBA of the announcement, with Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Canada all expressing interest of hosting the tournament.

[2] On May 29, 2009, it was announced that Puerto Rico was selected as the new host of the championships, with the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan as the venue.

Besides the United States, every participating nation from the FIBA Americas Championship 2007 qualified for this tournament, although Panama only returned by virtue of Cuba's withdrawal.

Brazil (Anderson Varejão, Leandro Barbosa), Canada (Joel Anthony), and Argentina (Luis Scola) also called up NBA players to their rosters.

Mexico dominated the second half against the Virgin Islands en route to a 17-point victory and the final quarterfinal spot out of Group A.

Group B began with a shocker as Venezuela dominated world number one ranked Argentina, forcing 23 turnovers en route to a 16-point victory.

The Dominican Republic, sporting a roster that included a tournament-high three NBA players, qualified to the quarterfinals with a 2–2 record.

Argentina, buoyed by tournament scoring leader Luis Scola, rebounded from an 0–2 start to win its last two games and qualify for the next round.

World number one ranked Argentina also qualified, winning all four of their quarterfinal games to erase an 0–2 start and escape a nearly disastrous result.

Argentina handed Puerto Rico its first loss of the tournament, 80–78, when Pablo Prigioni hit two free throws with four seconds left in the game.

The Brazilians only led by one at halftime before blowing the game open in the second half, jumping out to a 17-point fourth quarter lead before the Canadians went on a late run to cut the final deficit to eight.

The Brazilians took a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter and led by 11 with 5:45 left before the Puerto Ricans began a frantic run to get back in the game.

The following players were voted to the All-Tournament Teams by latinbasket.com (unofficial):[19] G – Carlos Arroyo G – Leandro Barbosa F – Al Horford F – Luis Scola (Tournament MVP) C – Esteban Batista G – Pablo Prigioni G – Larry Ayuso F – Danilo Pinnock F – Charlie Villanueva C – Anderson Varejão G – Jermaine Anderson G – Leandro Garcia F – Hector Romero F – Joel Anthony C – Peter John Ramos