Can USA win FIBA World Cup 2019?

FIBA World Cup 2019 is approaching and the basketball fans can enjoy some competition again, after more than one month of break. The event will be hosted by China and it will start on 31st of August, until the 15th of September.

Even if this is a major event for international basketball, there are plenty of young players from the United States of America that decided to take a step back and stay at home this time. Given the fact that they have just ended an 82-games season, you can’t throw too much things at them, because it’s hard to finish an NBA season, let alone compete at a professional level in the summer, too. Since that Paul George incident from the USA Basketball Training Camp, All-Star caliber players began to withdraw from playing for USA at the FIBA World Cup 2019, in order to recover their bodies well in the off-season, because the horrific injury of George definitely scared all of them and made them think twice if it’s worth the risk.

Another factor that might come in to play is that in 2020 the Olympics will take place, and the players are more willing to play in that competition rather than the World Cup, for some reason. Currently, more than a line-up of players have taken the decision to not play in this summer’s edition, and those are Anthony Davis, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, CJ McCollum, Tobias Harris and Eric Gordon. That’s a good amount of players and talent that will be missed by Team USA. The remaining players in the roster are D’Angelo Russell, Kemba Walker, Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Paul Millsap, the veteran, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Myles Turner, PJ Tucker and Andre Drummond all looking to make an impact for their national team.

However, it will be interesting to see how the competition will unfold and if Team USA can come out on the top with no real superstar on the roster. It’s a good opportunity for other countries such as Serbia or Spain to prove themselves and win the trophy.

Team USA’s group is formed by Japan, Turkey and Czech Republic.

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