What is the difference between Team USA and U.S. Select Team? Details about Chet Holmgren, Jalen Green and other stars
Team USA will start its training camp for the FIBA World Cup 2023 in early August and members of the U.S. Select Team have already been revealed.
U.S. Select Team is a group of young players who will practice and scrimmage against the Team USA FIBA World Cup national team. All members of U.S. Select Team are eligible to join Team USA, but only some of them will travel to Asia as injury replacements.
USA Basketball has already announced the 12 players who will form the main roster and will travel to the Philippines for the FIBA World Cup 2023, which starts on Friday, Aug. 25.
The 12 players who will represent Team USA in the FIBA World Cup are:
- Paolo Banchero
- Mikal Bridges
- Jalen Brunson
- Anthony Edwards
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Josh Hart
- Brandon Ingram
- Jaren Jackson Jr.
- Cam Johnson
- Walker Kessler
- Bobby Portis
- Austin Reaves
Chet Holmgren, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green to headline U.S. Select Team roster
USA basketball has yet to officially announce the members of the U.S Select Team, but Shams Charania of The Athletic has already revealed some of the members of the U.S. Select Team roster.
More specifically, young stars like Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons), Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams (OKC Thunder) and Jalen Green (Houston Rockets) will travel to Las Vegas to join the U..S Select Team. The same will happen with Sacramento Kings' Keegan Murray.
Cunningham has been struggling since joining the league in 2021 and is now attempting a restart. Coming off a couple of serious injuries, the No.1 pick of the 2021 NBA Draft has now fully recovered and is preparing for the new season. Cunningham is not willing to travel to Asia for the FIBA World Cup, as he has his sights set on being ready for the new season.
Chet Holmgren has yet to play for the Thunder since he joined the franchise with the No.2 pick of the 2022 NBA Draft. Holmgren suffered a serious leg injury last summer that sidelined him for the entire 2022/23 season. He is ready to go and participated in the 2023 NBA Summer league. He was one of the best players in the tournament.
Jalen Green is entering his third season in the NBA after the Rockets selected him with the No. 2 pick in 2021. A member of the Rockets' young core, Green will look to have a breakout year that will help him emerge as a top star in the league.
Murray, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, finished the season averaging 12.2 points on 45.3% shooting from the field and 41.1% from deep. He also added 4.6 rebounds per game, being a crucial part of the Sacramento Kings' impressive campaign, which saw the franchise end a 16-year playoff drought.
Team USA's training camp will begin Aug. 3 in Las Vegas. After the end of training camp, USA Basketball is expected to announce the members of U.S. Select Team that will travel to Asia, along with the man roster.
The Americans will face Puerto Rico on Aug. 7 in Las Vegas in the first of five exhibition games.
They will also have preparation games in Spain against Slovenia (Aug. 12) and the Spaniards (Aug. 13) before traveling to Abu Dhabi to face Greece (Aug. 18) and Germany (Aug. 20).
Team USA will take on New Zealand (Aug. 26), Greece (Aug. 28) and Jordan (Aug. 30) in Group C. The top two teams from each of the six groups will advance to the second round.