Team USA Update: LeBron James, Kevin Durant Head 28-Player Pool for 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski have identified the 28-player pool for the national team in preparation for the 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain. Team USA will have about six months before they cut it down to 12 players—plus two as injured reserve— who will make the trip to participate in the tournament to be held from Aug 30 to Sept 14.
As expected all of the players are coming from the National Basketball Association (NBA) and will be led by the usual suspects in LeBron James of the Miami Heat and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both are considered the best players in the planet today.
Here’s the complete list of hopefuls, and their respective NBA teams, that may represent Red, White and Blue in Espanya:
Guards: Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); James Harden (Houston Rockets); Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers); Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers); Klay Thompson (Warriors); Russell Westbrook (Thunder); and Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets)
Forwards: Kevin Durant (Thunder); LeBron James (Heat); LaMarcus Aldridge (Blazers); Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks); Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans); Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets); Paul George (Indiana Pacers); Blake Griffin (Clippers); Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz); Andre Iguodala (Warriors); Kyle Korver (Atlanta Hawks); Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs); David Lee (Warriors); and Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Centers: Tyson Chandler (Knicks); DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings); Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons) and Dwight Howard (Rockets)
Most, if not all in the list are superstars so Colangelo Kryzyzewski will hava a tough time in deciding which dozen will make the cut.
Prominent names not in the pool are Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who has mentioned that his participation in the London Olympics will be his last with the national team; Heat guard Dwyane Wade and forward Chris Bosh, both of whom were vital to the U.S.’s gold medal run the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Formerly known as the FIBA World Championship from 1950 to 2010, the international tournament has been rebranded as the FIBA Basketball World Cup starting this year, 2014.
Twenty national teams have already qualified for the tourney with four more NTs joining as wildcard entries. 7 teams are from Europe (France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Serbia and Spain); 2 from Oceania (New Zealand, Australia); 4 from Americas (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Dominican Republic and USA); 3 from Africa (Angola, Egypt and Senegal); and 3 from Asia (Philippines, Korea, Iran).
Team USA is hoping to extend their dominance in the world of basketball with another first place finish in Spain. And as always, they have a deep of talent to choose from in their mission.