James Harden, Anthony Davis and Damien Lillard are apparently not enough for Australian basketball fans, many of whom have slammed the 20-man Team USA squad announced today to take on the Boomers in Melbourne, as ‘underwhelming’. There are even calls from some to refund or sell their tickets.
But calls to refund their tickets are premature, if we are to believe the words of Team USA managing director, Jerry Colangello, who expects other players, including Kawhi Leonard, could make themselves available as the NBA Finals come to an end.
“We did extend and invitation (to Leonard), we haven’t heard back from a few people, including him.
“If certain individuals reached out and said they wanted to participate we would certainly take a hard look at that and that includes him.”
Undoubtedly, there are multiple players in the NBA Finals right now who would literally waltz into the Team USA’s best possible line up, including Leonard, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Players of this caliber would not be expected to declare their availability in the middle of perhaps the most important series of their careers.
If none of those superstars make themselves available for the World Cup, and therefore the Melbourne series, Team USA still has 11 NBA All Stars in their current squad – to put that in perspective, the Golden State Warriors have five recent NBA All Stars and have created a dynasty among some of the greatest in the game’s history.
Team USA will salvage an excellent team from the current squad and the only thing that will might be missing is the name recognition that guys like Steph Curry and Lebron James can bring.
And talks of Zion Williamson making the team have not been squashed by his current omission from the main squad. Zion will feature in the USA’s Select Team that will train against Team USA and sharpen them for their World Cup conquest.
A breakout performance there will undoubtedly put him in the mix for selection just as a breakout performance for the Select team did for Anthony Davis in 2012 before he was drafted into the NBA.
And fans can also rest assured that the teams that suit up in Melbourne in August will indeed be the teams that both Australia and the USA take to the world cup. With the World Cup starting less than a week after the second game in Melbourne, Team USA head coach Greg Popovich sees the Melbourne games as an important stepping-stone towards their World Cup tilt.
“The 12 players we bring to Australia we hope will be the people that fit the best to compete against the best teams, one of which is obviously Australia.”
Team USA will take on the Boomers at Marvel Arena on the 22nd and 24th of August and will follow that up with a game against Canada on the 26th of August. The FIBA World Cup begins on August 31st.
Current USA Training Squad:
Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings)
Bradley Beal(Washington Wizards)
Anthony Davis(New Orleans)
Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons)
Eric Gordon(Houston Rockets)
James Harden(Houston Rockets)
Tobias Harris(Philadelphia 76ers)
Kyle Kuzma(Los Angeles Lakers)
Damian Lillard(Portland Trail Blazers)
Brook Lopez(Milwaukee Bucks)
Kevin Love(Cleveland Cavaliers)
Kyle Lowry(Toronto Raptors)
CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers)
Khris Middleton(Milwaukee Bucks)
Paul Millsap (Denver Nuggets)
Donovan Mitchell(Utah Jazz)
Jayson Tatum(Boston Celtics)
P.J. Tucker (Houston Rockets)
Myles Turner(Indiana Pacers)
Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets)