USA Basketball Select Team features four former Kentucky basketball stars
The USA Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, which includes former Kentucky stars Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo, will be getting an assist from a squad that includes four former Cats.
The USA Basketball Select Team, which will train with the national team during its Las Vegas training camp from July 6-9, was announced Thursday with Immanuel Quickley, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson and PJ Washington making the 17-player roster.
“It’s an honor to be a part of getting the Olympians prepared to go to Tokyo,” said Johnson, now with the San Antonio Spurs. “I get to go help my country in the Olympics. Whether it’s a small role or a big role, I feel like I can go out there and help the team and make them better.”
Quickley, now with the New York Knicks, said: “Truly a blessing and an honor to be invited to the USA Select Team in Vegas, helping those guys compete for a gold medal in Tokyo. It’s going to be a great experience for me just to go against the greatest players in the world.”
Others named to the USA Select Team were Saddiq Bey, Miles Bridges, Anthony Edwards, Darius Garland, Tyrese Haliburton, John Jenkins, Josh Magette, Dakota Mathias, Naz Reid, Cam Reynolds, Isaiah Stewart, Obi Toppin and Patrick Williams.
Erik Spoelstra, Adebayo and Herro’s coach with the Miami Heat, will serve as the head coach of the USA Select Team. Assistant coaches will be Gonzaga head coach Mark Few and Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley.
“With all the uncertainty of how many of our Olympic team members will be available for the USA training camp because of the overlap with the NBA Finals, we chose a USA Select Team consisting of many of the top young NBA players and four players who not only own international experience, but who played recently for USA Basketball in important national team qualifying competitions,” said Jerry Colangelo, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team’s managing director. “If we need to add players to fill out our roster for any of our exhibition games, we feel this USA Select Team has an excellent variety of skilled players to choose from.”
