By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
USA Basketball announced today the prep games schedule and also the players who will be called in the national team for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
According to the press release: “USA Basketball today announced two domestic exhibition games leading into the 2019 FIBA World Cup for Men. The USA Men’s National Team will hold a Blue-White intrasquad exhibition game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m. (PDT) and will play international rival Spain on Friday, Aug. 16, 7 p.m. (PDT), at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Tickets for the Las Vegas and Anaheim games go on sale Friday, March 15 at 10 a.m. (PDT). For ticket information visit usab.com/mnttickets.
The USA National Team will open its 2019 training on Aug. 5 in Las Vegas and will practice daily through Aug. 8 at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center.
“The USA National Team’s training is critical in getting our team best prepared for the FIBA World Cup. The Blue-White exhibition game in Las Vegas and USA versus Spain in Anaheim will help us prepare for the challenges we will face in defending our World Cup gold medal,” said Jerry Colangelo, USA National Team managing director. “The two domestic games are a great opportunity for fans to see their USA Basketball National Team play in Las Vegas and Anaheim.”
“The exhibitions games will help our team learn about each other and build the chemistry that is necessary in order to compete at the level required for the FIBA World Cup,” said USA and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “The Blue-White game will be important in our process of determining the USA team, and playing an excellent and experienced international team like Spain will be a challenge and important in our preparations.”
The announcement of the two exhibition games raises the number of announced USA pre-World Cup exhibitions to four games. USA Basketball previously announced that the USA Men’s National team would play two exhibition games versus Australia in Melbourne, Australia. With crowds expected to surpass 50,000 for each game, the USA-Australia exhibition games will be played on Aug. 22 and 24 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
The 32-team 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup competition will be held Aug. 31-Sept. 15 in China. Eight cities will host World Cup games – Beijing, Foshan, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Popovich will be assisted by NBA head coaches Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors) and Nate McMillan (Indiana Pacers) and Villanova University head coach Jay Wright.
Players selected to represent the USA in 2019 are expected to be NBA players who are part of the 2019-20 USA National Team roster.
The USA Basketball Men’s National Team roster currently includes Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings); Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards); Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns); Jimmy Butler (Philadelphia 76ers); Mike Conley Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies); DeMarcus Cousins (Golden State Warriors); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans); DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio Spurs); Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons); Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors); Paul George (Oklahoma City Thunder); Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets); Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors); Blake Griffin (Detroit Pistons); James Harden (Houston Rockets); Tobias Harris (Philadelphia 76ers); Gordon Hayward (Boston Celtics); Kyrie Irving (Boston Celtics); LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers); DeAndre Jordan (New York Knicks); Kawhi Leonard (Toronto Raptors); Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers); Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors); CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers); Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks); Victor Oladipo (Indiana Pacers); Chris Paul (Houston Rockets); Isaiah Thomas (Denver Nuggets); Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors); Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers); Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets); John Wall (Washington Wizards); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
Since the formation of USA Basketball’s National Team program in 2006 by Colangelo, USA national teams have compiled a spectacular 88-1 record and claimed top honors in six of seven FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions (through 2016 Olympics).
Additionally, USA National Teams have compiled a 51-1 record in exhibition games since national team rosters included NBA stars starting in 1992.
The current two-time defending World Cup champion USA men have participated in 17 FIBA World Cups and have collected 12 medals – five gold medals (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010 and 2014), three silver medals (1950, 1959 and 1982) and four bronze medals (1974, 1990, 1998 and 2006). USA Men’s World Cup teams own an overall record of 123-27.
Results from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will qualify seven teams for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Additionally, Olympic host Japan automatically qualified, and the final four nations will qualify through four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held in 2020 in advance of the Olympics”.