COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Featuring 35 players, including 17 Olympic gold medalists and 30 past members of the USA Men’s National Team pool, USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo today announced the 2018-20 USA Men’s National Team roster of players who are expected to attend the July 25-27 USA Men’s National Team minicamp in Las Vegas.
It is expected that the official, 12-member 2019 USA World Cup and 2020 U.S. Olympic teams, should the USA qualify to compete in China and Tokyo, will be comprised of players from the 2018-20 USA National Team.
The national team pool includes 11 gold medalists from the 2016 Rio Olympic team, seven 2012 London Olympics gold medalists, eight members of the gold medalist 2014 FIBA World Cup Team and five players who were members of the 2010 USA team that captured the FIBA World Cup title.
Named to the 2018-20 USA National Team are: Harrison Barnes (Dallas Mavericks); Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards); Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns); Jimmy Butler (Minnesota Timberwolves); Mike Conley Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies); DeMarcus Cousins (New Orleans Pelicans); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans); DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors); 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 (Los Angeles Clippers); Gordon Hayward (Boston Celtics); Kyrie Irving (Boston Celtics); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers); Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs); 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 (Los Angeles Lakers); Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors); Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers); Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets); John Wall (Washington Wizards); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
New to the USA Men’s National Team pool are Booker, McCollom, Middleton, Thomas, and Turner. Booker (2016) was a member of USA Basketball Select Team that trained against USA National Team.
“While we do not have an official competition that we need to prepare for in 2018, the selection and announcement of our new pool of national team members and this year’s July minicamp are important first steps in our preparations to defend the FIBA World Cup and Olympic titles we won during the last two quadrenniums,” said Colangelo, who has served as managing director of the USA National Team since 2005 and overseen USA teams that have compiled an 88-1 overall record. “This year’s minicamp is an opportunity for us to continue and expand the culture, brotherhood and camaraderie that has been built.
“As is shown by the return of 29 past national team players, our pipeline is well developed and it is a key factor in our success. We’re also excited about the new players who have been added to the program and the roster will remain fluid over the next three years as we continue to look for and consider players who can contribute to our program.”
The 2017-20 USA Basketball National Team coaching staff features USA head coach and San Antonio Spurs mentor Gregg Popovich.
The 2018 USA National Team minicamp will feature daily practices on July 25-27 at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center.
2018-20 USA Basketball Men’s National Team Notes:
- The 35 players represent 20 NBA teams, with NBA champion Golden State Warriors featuring four players (Curry, Durant, Green and Thompson), while the Houston Rockets (Gordon, Harden and Paul) boast of a trio of players, and nine teams feature two players, including – Boston Celtics (Hayward and Irving), Cleveland Cavaliers (James and Love), Detroit Pistons (Drummond and Griffin), Indiana Pacers (Oladipo and Turner), Los Angeles Clippers (Harris and Jordan), New Orleans Pelicans (Cousins and Davis), Oklahoma City Thunder (George and Westbrook), Portland Trail Blazers (Lillard and McCollum) and Washington Wizards (Beal and Wall).
- Eleven players were members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic gold medal team (Barnes, Butler, Cousins, DeRozan, Durant, George, Green, Irving, Jordan, Lowry and Thompson); seven were gold medalists on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team (Davis, Durant, Harden, James, Love, Paul and Westbrook); two were members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic gold medalist team (James and Paul); and one was part of the 2004 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist team (James).
- Eight national team players were part of the gold medalist 2014 USA World Cup Team (Cousins, Curry, Davis, DeRozan, Drummond, Harden, Irving and Thompson) and five players were members of the 2010 USA World Championship team that won the title (Curry, Durant, Gordon, Love and Westbrook).
- The roster includes the last two FIBA World Cup MVPs – 2014 MVP Irving and 2010 MVP Durant.
- The 2018 NBA All-Star game featured 17 USA National Team players, including starters Curry, Davis, DeRozan, Durant, Harden, Irving, James and Westbrook; and reserves Beal, Drummond, George, Green, Lillard, Lowry, Oladipo, Thompson and Walker. Four additional players — Butler, Cousins, Love and Wall — also originally were selected to play in the ’18 All-Star game but were unable to participate due to injury.
- Four members of the national team pool have won eight of the last nine NBA regular season MVP awards – Westbrook (2017), Curry (2015 and 2016), Durant (2014) and James (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013).
- Durant (2017), James (2012, 2013 and 2016) and Leonard (2014) have won five of the last six NBA Finals MVP awards.
- Six USA National player have earned nine NBA All-Star MVP honors, including Davis (2017), Westbrook (2015 and 2016), Irving (2014), Paul (2013), Durant (2012) and James (2006, 2008 and 2018).
- NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards have been presented to two USA National Team members – Green (2017) and Leonard (2015 and 2016).
- McCollum (2015-16), Butler (2014-15), George (2012-13) and Love (2010-11) have collected NBA Most Improved award honors.
2019 FIBA World Cup of Basketball
Under FIBA’s new competition system, a total of 80 national teams from FIBA’s four regions of Africa, Americas, Asia (which now includes Oceania) and Europe are competing in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers over 15 months looking to earn a qualifying berth in the 32-team 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup that will be held Aug. 31-Sept. 15 in China.
The FIBA World Cup Qualifying games are being used to qualify 31 of the 32 nations that will compete in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. China automatically qualified as the host nation of the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Five teams will qualify from Africa, seven teams from the Americas, seven teams from Asia and 12 European teams will also qualify.
The current two-time defending FIBA 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 teams own an all-time overall World Cup record of 123-27, and the USA men currently own a 19 game winning streak having last suffered a loss (101-95 to Greece) in the semifinals of the 2006 FIBA World Cup.
2020 Olympic Games
The 2020 Olympic Games will be held July 24-Aug. 9 in Tokyo, Japan. A total of 12 nations will compete in the Olympic men’s basketball competition.
Results from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will qualify seven teams for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The top two finishing teams in the World Cup from the Americas and Europe, as well as the top finisher from Africa, Asia and Oceania will earn Olympic qualifying berths. Additionally, Olympic host, Japan, automatically qualified. The final four nations will qualify through four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held in 2020 in advance of the Olympics.
The American men have compiled an all-time win-loss record in Olympic action of 138-5 for a spectacular .965 winning percentage. In 18 Olympics in which USA men’s teams have competed, the U.S. has captured 15 gold, one silver and two bronze medals. The USA men have won 25-straight games (last losing 89-81 to Argentina in the 2004 Olympic semifinals).
Since the inception of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team program in 2005, the USA has captured an unprecedented three consecutive Olympic and back-to-back FIBA World Cup gold medals, while compiling a remarkable 88-1 overall record (.989 winning percentage), including a 60-1 win-loss record in official FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions.
