USA Basketball has announced its 12-man roster for the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers, bringing back four members of the squad that won gold earlier this year in FIBA’s AmeriCup tournament.
Here’s Team USA’s full 12-man roster:
- Semaj Christon, PG (FA)
- Larry Drew II, PG (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Reggie Hearn, SG (Reno Bighorns)
- Elijah Millsap, SG (Iowa Wolves)
- Xavier Munford, SG (Wisconsin Herd)
- Markel Brown, G (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Donald Sloan, G (Texas Legends)
- Jarell Eddie, SF (Windy City Bulls)
- Amile Jefferson, PF (Iowa Wolves)
- Jameel Warney, PF (Texas Legends)
- Travis Wear, F (South Bay Lakers)
- Kennedy Meeks, C (Raptors 905)
The squad, which will be coached once again by Jeff Van Gundy, is comprised almost entirely of G League players, since most of the qualifying tournaments take place during the NBA season, preventing NBA players from participating. Team USA’s goal is for Van Gundy’s squad of G Leaguers to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, which will take place in August and September, when NBA players will be free to participate.
The new-look USA Basketball program is off to a good start, having gone 5-0 this summer to win a gold medal at the AmeriCup tournament. Drew, Hearn, Munford, and Warney were all part of that team.
This time around, Team USA will face Puerto Rico on November 23 and then Mexico on November 26. After those contests, the first round of World Cup qualifiers will resume in February before concluding in July. The top three teams in each first-round group will advance to the second round, which begins in September 2018 and concludes in February 2019, so the qualifying process will take some time to play out.
Meanwhile, the G League teams temporarily losing players to Team USA will be permitted one free move per lost player from the available player pool, tweets Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days.