Sports

FIBA: No age limit expected in ’16

Basketball’s best apparently will be welcomed in Rio.

The head of the sport’s governing body said yesterday he doesn’t foresee an age limit for the 2016 Olympics, tempering talk that the 20-year anniversary of the Dream Team would be the final appearance of the NBA’s biggest stars.

“The feeling is I think that we will not be proposing an under-23 age for 2016,” FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann said before watching the women’s medal games.

POST’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE

NBA Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver have said they may favor Olympic basketball turning to a model like soccer, in which teams are made up of players 23 and younger, with three roster exceptions for older players.

Baumann said FIBA and the NBA are having ongoing discussions, and he wants to do whatever is best to continue the worldwide growth of basketball while also being respectful of team owners’ concerns about the wear and tear their players face when playing for their national teams.

But any potential rules changes for the Olympics have to be proposed this year, so Baumann said it’s “probably premature to make any changes to the Olympic program.”