USA has just announced the 19 players from the NBA who will make it to the men's basketball roster. Chicago Bulls star point guard Derrick Rose and four players from the 2012 Olympic men's basketball champions were among the 19 players who were chosen for this year's U.S national team roster.
Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, James Harden and Anthony Davis were the four holdovers announced on Monday, including new comers DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors and Chandler Parsons who has just been acquired by the Dallas Mavericks after Houston declined to match the offer made by the Mavs. Interestingly, the NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard was not chosen to participate in this summer's team USA.
The selected 19 players will participate in training cap that will be held in Las Vegas this month. In the end, 7 players will be left out with only 12 players who will make it to the roster before the World Cup of Basketball in Spain. Derrick Rose will try to compete with other star points guards like Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Damian Lillard, for a spot in the team after his NBA season went to a disappointing early halt with another knee injury.
Here is the rest of the participants for the US men's basketball roster:
- Stephen Curry (Warriors)
- Klay Thompson (Warriors)
- Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers)
- Blake Griffin (Clippers)
- Paul George (Pacers)
- Damian Lillard (Blazers)
- Gordon Hayward (Jazz)
- DeMarcus Cousins (Kings)
- Bradley Beal (Wizards)
- Andre Drummond (Pistons)
- Kenneth Faried (Nuggets) and
- Kyle Korver (Hawks)
USA formerly announced a 28-player roster pool 5 months ago, although it was already agreed that players who already had a shot at Olympic gold like two-time Olympic champions LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul would not be included this summer but possibly in the next summer games in 2016.
"To maintain the continuity, we need turnover in every competition so that players who aspire to represent the USA on the national team level have a real opportunity," Colangelo said.
This means that Durant will be leading the US men's basketball team this summer. It would be interesting to see how Rose would pan out after recovering from knee surgery. If Rose makes it to the final 12, then it would almost surely guarantee that he is ready to come back in the NBA and make some noise in the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Bulls and their newly revamped roster with the recent acquisition of Lakers Center/forward Pau Gasol.
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