Washington, United States of America—Chicago’s Thaddeus Young, New York’s Julius Randle and Denver’s Mason Plumlee were among six players added Thursday to the United States team of NBA stars for the Basketball World Cup.
The additions announced by US national team managing director Jerry Colangelo also included Boston’s Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown and Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The newcomers replace nine players who have withdrawn from consideration for the team coached by Gregg Popovich that will travel to China in quest of a third consecutive crown for the Americans in the global showdown.
This leaves Boston’s Kemba Walker as the lone 2019 NBA All Star in the US team of NBA players.
The absentees include NBA scoring leader James Harden of Houston, Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland’s Kevin Love, Denver’s Paul Millsap, Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Philadelphia’s Tobias Harris, Houston’s Eric Gordon and Washington’s Bradley Beal.
“Since USA Basketball started the men’s national team program in 2006, we have understood the necessity of fluidity within the program and the importance of having a deep national team roster that features both young and veteran standout NBA players,” Colangelo said.
“The six players we added today are all outstanding players in their own right and along with the other players who will attend the World Cup team training camp will offer coach Popovich and his staff some remarkable athleticism and versatility.”
Others set for the US training camp on August 5-9 at Las Vegas are Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, Houston’s P.J. Tucker, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Indiana’s Myles Turner, Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kyle Lowry of the NBA champion Toronto Raptors.
USA Basketball also announced a select squad including NBA All-Rookie First Teamers Trae Young of Atlanta and Marvin Bagley of Sacramento that will serve as practice opponents and extra players for a USA Blue versus USA White exhibition game to conclude the camp.
The US team, 88-1 overall since establishing a national team program after a disappointing bronze-medal performance in the 2004 Athens Olympics, will face Spain at Anaheim on August 16, a day before the final 12-player World Cup roster is named.
The US team will travel to Australia for training and play exhibition games on August 22 and 24 in Melbourne and August 26 at Sydney ahead of the 32-team Basketball World Cup from August 31-September 15 in China.
