Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love is expected to be the next NBA star to pull his name out of consideration for the FIBA World Cup, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry remains committed to play despite recent thumb surgery, Charania adds. Lowry is still recovering from the procedure to repair a tendon injury, but he is expected to be ready for action midway through training camp.
Love battled his own injuries last season, being limited to 22 games because of toe surgery. He remained at his normal level when he played, averaging 17.0 points and 10.9 rebounds for the season.
Love would be the eighth Team USA player to decide against participating in the World Cup since the original list of invitees was announced. Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan both announced yesterday that they won’t be part of the team, joining Anthony Davis, James Harden, Bradley Beal, CJ McCollum and Eric Gordon.
Charania notes that their absence will provide greater opportunity for young players such as Donovan Mitchell, De’Aaron Fox, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Kuzma and Myles Turner, along with lower-profile veterans like Lowry, P.J. Tucker and Thaddeus Young (Twitter link).
A source tells Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News that there’s “no question” Kuzma will participate in the camp (Twitter link).
Still want to c the kids play
PG-Trae Young, Fox, Ja Morant
Wings-Tatum, Mitchell, Kuzma, Kevin Knox, DeAndre Hunter
Bigs- John Collins, Mitchell Robinson, Marvin Bagley, Jaren Jackson Jr
That would bring my eyeballs to the TV for the World Cup more then Myles Turner and PJ Tucker and Thaddeus Young would.
It sounds more like the all star first year player team than any vets.
Great national exposure for the future of the NBA !!!
the only issue is all these younger guys really need to be working with their own teams to understand the systems they will be running next season and then with the guys who are like MVP type players chasing a RING like Harden,Dame,Curry it don’t make sense either to risk injury …so honestly it works out better for everyone to have guys on the team that have at least 2 years in the NBA and maybe guys who are not joining new teams that year and I would imagine you can still field really good teams without having to Resort to players like Knox,Tucker and Eric Gordon.
ideally it should would look like
Guards- Lowry D Mitchell Booker J Holiday CP3 J Butler
Forwards- Tatum,T Harris,A Gordon,Blake Griffin,Wiggins,H Barnes
Centers Kat,Turner,Whiteside
wiggins is canadian
What works best is if the best of who wants to go, goes.
KAT plays for a carib nation.
He was born in NJ, but he is from Dominican Republic, like Al Horford! But I am not sure which country he plays for DR or USA…
who would pass up on the opportunity to serve their country like this
Some guys are going to get replaced by the big boys next year. So they don’t want to risk any injury.
A lot of these guys have already played in the FIBA World Cup or an Olympics already too. The NBA is the highest basketball league in the world so it takes precedence, especially if you’ve already played…or “served.”
Half the NBA apparently.
BTW, playing basketball is NOT serving your country. It’s playing a few games in a USA jersey.
Gotta admire Kyle Lowry. Everyone else dropping like flies, the man just had thumb surgery, not to mention the fact he played longer into the season than anyone of the players who’ve withdrawn. And hes still honouring his commitment, ready to go. That’s what you call the heart of a champion. Some of these other wussy players, namely guys like Dame who have never won anything significant in their NBA lives, should take note of how a real champion handles himself. Good on you Kyle, you bulldog.
Winning a ring and a gold medal in a four month span must sound very appealing. Not many players have done it
Like someone said why not just have a team full of talented young guys. Instead of random vets Tucker and young.
Well that would give other nations a chance.
what about devin booker
Would it not make sense to talk to players first to see if they want to play. If they express a desire to play and back out then don’t ask them again. But this makes the player look bad if he didn’t want to give up the time for whatever reason.