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Marcus Smart Says 2019 Team USA Should Be Given Priority For Olympics
On August 5, Team USA will start their Las Vegas training camp for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The problem – more and more stars are withdrawing from Team USA 2019.
In these past couple of days, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, CJ McCollum, Eric Gordon, Tobias Harris, DeMar DeRozan, and Zion Williamson, among others, have all withdrawn from the team, leaving the current roster with only 2 All-Stars.
Marcus Smart, who still is on the roster and plans to play in the World Cup was guest on The Jump yesterday and made an interesting and valid statement.
He said that the the guys who’ll be playing on this year’s Team USA should be given priority for making the next team competing in the Olympics next year, because they’re the ones putting in the work to qualify.
On The Jump, Marcus Smart says the guys playing on this year's Team USA should be given priority for making the next team competing in the Olympics because they're the ones putting in the work to qualify
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) July 29, 2019
While his reasoning makes sense, the 2020 Team USA Olympic Pool already includes players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, and players like Smart very likely won’t be part of that team. Then again, Team USA 2017/18, the team that qualified for this year’s World Cup was filled with G-League players many fans are unfamiliar with. The roster only combined for 511 NBA games. Donald Sloan (218 NBA games) led the pack, in front of Markel Brown (109), Elijah Millsap (69), Semaj Christon (64), and Travis Wear (51). None of these players will make the actual Team that will represent the United States at the World Cup, so there’s that.
Aside from Smart, Team USA 2019 will roster Kemba Walker, Kyle Lowry, Kevin Love, Donovan Mitchell, Andre Drummond, Marcus Smart, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Harrison Barnes, Julius Randle, PJ Tucker, Kyle Kuzma, Thaddeus Young, Brook Lopez, and Myles Turner.
