USA announce 35-player list for China 2019 and Tokyo 2020
COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019/Tokyo 2020 Olympics) – Amid their qualifying campaign to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, USA Basketball announced today a 35-player list expected to att
COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019/Tokyo 2020 Olympics) – Amid their qualifying campaign to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, USA Basketball announced today a 35-player list expected to attend the July 25-27 USA Men's National Team minicamp in Las Vegas.
USA currently holds the first position in Group C of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers, and will try to lock their ticket to the second round of the Qualifiers during the June-July window as visitors against Mexico and Cuba. The best seven teams from the Americas Qualifiers will advance to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. FIBA's flagship event will qualify directly 7 teams to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games , while the 16 next best classified teams at the World Cup will get the chance of qualifying through one of the 4 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2020.
| USA 35-player roster for 2018-2020 Men's National Team | |||
| Harrison Barnes | Bradley Beal | Devin Booker | Jimmy Butler |
| Mike Conley Jr | DeMarcus Cousins | Stephen Curry | Anthony Davis |
| DeMar DeRozan | Andre Drummond | Kevin Durant | Paul George |
| Eric Gordon | Draymond Green | Blake Griffin | James Harden |
| Tobias Harris | Gordon Hayward | Kyrie Irving | LeBron James |
| Kawhi Leonard | Damian Lillard | Kevin Love | Kyle Lowry |
| CJ McCollum | Khris Middleton | Victor Oladipo | Chris Paul |
| Isaiah Thomas | Klay Thompson | Myles Turner | Kemba Walker |
| John Wall | Russell Westbrook | ||
The list comprises eight players that led the USA to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 title in Spain, in Cousins, Curry, Davis, DeRozan, Drummond, Harden, Irving and Thompson and five players that were members of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010 winning side, in Curry, Durant, Gordon, Love and Westbrook. The list also included the last two FIBA Basketball World Cup MVP, Kyrie Irving (2014) and Kevin Durant (2010).
Booker, McCollum, Middleton, Thomas, and Turner, make their first appearance on the USA Men's National Team pool.
Introducing the 2018-20 USA Basketball Men's National Team pool:
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) April 6, 2018
1⃣7⃣ Olympic gold medalists
3⃣0⃣ returning members of the USA Men's National Team pool
3⃣5⃣ athletes in all
🔗 » https://t.co/ElOmTQbGyF pic.twitter.com/3gekcb6f5a
“The selection and announcement of our new pool of national team members and this year's July minicamp are important first steps in our preparations to defend the FIBA Basketball World Cup and Olympic titles we won during the last two quadrennium," said the managing director of the USA National Team, Jerry Colangelo in the official USA Basketball press release. "This year's minicamp is an opportunity for us to continue and expand the culture, brotherhood and camaraderie that has been built.”
"As is shown by the return of 29 past national team players, our pipeline is well developed and it is a key factor in our success. We're also excited about the new players who have been added to the program and the roster will remain fluid over the next three years as we continue to look for and consider players who can contribute to our program," concluded Colangelo.
Gregg Popovich will take over Head Coach duties for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020.
FIBA