USA Basketball has officially announced its Select Team roster, announcing in a press release that 14 players will get the opportunity to train with and scrimmage against the primary 12-man national team roster as it prepares for the 2023 World Cup.
Those 14 players, most of whom have been previous reported, are as follows:
- Cade Cunningham, G (Pistons)
- Langston Galloway, G (free agent)
- Jalen Green, G (Rockets)
- Quentin Grimes, G (Knicks)
- John Jenkins, G (G League Ignite)
- Payton Pritchard, G (Celtics)
- Herbert Jones, F (Pelicans)
- Trey Murphy, F (Pelicans)
- Keegan Murray, F (Kings)
- Jalen Williams, F (Thunder)
- Naz Reid, F/C (Timberwolves)
- Jalen Duren, C (Pistons)
- Chet Holmgren, C (Thunder)
- Eric Mika, C (G League Ignite)
As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press notes (via Twitter), Galloway, Jenkins, and Mika aren’t currently in the NBA but were among the players who suited up for Team USA during the qualifying games for the World Cup, ensuring that the U.S. earned a spot in the tournament. They’ll be rewarded for their contributions by getting spots on the select team and taking part in the lead-up to the World Cup.
“We are confident that our USA Men’s Select Team will do a great job helping prepare the men’s national team for the 2023 Men’s FIBA World Cup,” national team managing director Grant Hill said in a statement. “We have a good mix of young NBA players and those who helped us qualify for the World Cup, all of who will play a huge role in our success in Manila, as we continue to develop the national team pipeline for years to come.”
The select team will be coached by Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, who will be joined by assistants Jim Boylen and Matt Painter. Boylen, a former Bulls head coach and current Pacers assistant, was Team USA’s head coach during the qualifying contests. Painter has been the longtime head coach at Purdue.
As we’ve previously noted, members of the U.S. select team would be candidates for promotion if any players from the national team roster have to withdraw from the World Cup for any reason.
Even if no substitutions are necessary, the players on the select team could eventually be called upon by USA Basketball to join future Olympic or World Cup teams. Brandon Ingram, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Mikal Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jalen Brunson are among those on this year’s World Cup roster who were members of the U.S. select teams for the 2016 Olympics, 2019 World Cup, or 2021 Olympics.
In addition to Ingram, Edwards, Haliburton, Bridges, Jackson, and Brunson, the U.S. World Cup roster consists of Cameron Johnson, Austin Reaves, Paolo Banchero, Bobby Portis, Josh Hart, and Walker Kessler.
“I’ve never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime.”
This one’s DEAD!
Cross him off then
You don’t follow basketball much do you. No one on either the Select team or the National team is past their prime. The only name past his prime in the article is Grant Hill and he’s a coach. If anything a lot of these kids haven’t yet hit their prime. Explaining why you don’t know most of them. A lot of the games biggest names nowadays are either foreigners or older players like LeBron James, Steph Curry or Chris Paul. For obvious reasons those guys will not play for the USA this year.
The joke
You
Herb Jones and Trey Murphy are better than Portis and Hart, some might say way better.
Anyway, I think when US play Canada, Canada will have at least two best players on the floor – SGA and Jamal