The USA Select Team — the squad of promising young players who go up against Team USA in practices before this year’s World Cup — is coming into focus.
Payton Pritchard (Celtics), Trey Murphy (Pelicans), Naz Reid (Timberwolves), and Quentin Grimes (Knicks) have been added to the team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
They will join Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams of the Thunder, Cade Cunningham of the Pistons, Jalen Green of the Rockets and Keegan Murray of the Kings, who were announced yesterday. That’s nine of the 12 players for the select team. The Magic’s Jamahl Mosley will coach the Select Team.
The Select Team will meet in Las Vegas Aug. 3-6 for the Team USA training camp leading up to the World Cup. At least some players will travel with Team USA to Abu Dhabi for a couple of exhibition games, in case a replacement is needed for one of the dozen Team USA members.
The World Cup starts Aug. 25 and takes place in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan (all of Team USA’s games are in Manilla), with 32 teams participating. The Americans are the heavy favorites, but Canada is a threat and Serbia could be as well.
