USA Basketball announces 17 finalists for World Cup team

Team USA held its Blue vs. White scrimmage on Friday, and afterward decided to cut both Thaddeus Young and Bam Adebayo. The team will reconvene in Los Angeles this next week, where they will work on reducing the final tally toward the roster for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.

USA Basketball announced the 17 finalists for the team late on Friday, and they include players from all across the NBA.

Via USA Basketball:

Finalists include 2016 Olympic gold medalist Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings); Marvin Bagley III (Sacramento Kings); Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics); De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings); Joe Harris (Brooklyn Nets); Kyle Kuzma (Los Angeles Lakers); Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks); Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors); Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks); Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz); 2014 World Cup gold medalist Mason Plumlee (Denver Nuggets); Marcus Smart (Boston Celtics); Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics); P.J. Tucker (Houston Rockets); Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers); Kemba Walker (Boston Celtics); and Derrick White (San Antonio Spurs).

Standouts have been De’Aaron Fox, Kemba Walker, and Jayson Tatum, who scored 17 points in Friday’s scrimmage. San Antonio’s Derrick White seems to also have caught on, and it’s looking like this year’s World Cup team will be chocked full of youngsters.

It could be a new era of Team USA that is upon us. The rest of the world is thinking they have a shot to take down the U.S. without its superstars, but the young guns seem hungry at this point in August.