Last summer, Jayson Tatum infamously worked out with Kobe Bryant. This summer, he'll practice with Anthony Davis, James Harden and Damian Lillard in front of Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, and Jay Wright.
USA Basketball announced today that Tatum has made the 20-man training camp roster for the upcoming 2019 FIBA World Cup. Tatum will have to compete to make the 12-man roster, but will undoubtedly gain valuable experience on the way. Training camp will be held in Las Vegas between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9 and will determine which eight players get left off the roster.
“I am excited about getting to training camp in August and working with all of the players that have been selected to attend the USA National Team training camp in Las Vegas,” Popovich said in a USA Basketball press release. “We’ve got an excellent cross-section of veteran USA Basketball and NBA players, as well as some exciting younger players who possess amazing versatility."
Tatum joins five other players — Kyle Kuzma, Paul Millsap, Brook Lopez, Donovan Mitchell and P.J. Tucker — as newcomers to the official USA World Cup team. Jerry Colangelo, the President of USA Basketball, and the coaches will likely look to this group first when deciding who to cut. Of those six players in the 2018-19 season, Tatum posted the third-most points per game and third-highest PER, but also recorded the second-to-worst Box Plus-Minus and VORP. Compare Tatum's prime competition here with Basketball-Reference.
Tatum has three FIBA gold medals already, as he helped USA to wins in the U19, U17, and U16 world titles. The U.S. enters the 2019 World Cup as the No. 1-ranked team and two-time defending champion. If all goes well for Tatum in August, he'll join the team in China for the first round in early September. And even if Tatum gets cut from the final roster, practicing with USA Basketball sure beats practicing with Kobe.
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