USA Basketball cut its World Cup roster to 16 players Monday night by waiving Washington Wizards’ guards John Wall and Brad Beal and Atlanta Hawks’ forward Paul Milsaps Monday night.
The U.S. national team lost potential starting foward Paul George Friday night when he broke his leg during an intrasquad scrimmage at UNLV at the end of a week-long training. USA Basketball must submit its official 12-player roster the day before the tournament starts on Aug. 30 in Spain. The team will resume its training camp Aug. 13 in Chicago.
Millsap had been a late addition to the pool of players after forwards Kevin Love and Blake Griffin– who were considered locks for the team– withdrew shortly before the start of camp. The current roster includes guards Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, Kyle Korver, Damian Lillard; forwards Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Chandler Parsons, Gordon Hayward, Kenneth Faried; and centers DeMarcus Cousins, Mason Plumlee and Andre Drummond.
The national team will play Brazil in an exhibition game at the United Center Aug. 14 in what is expected to be a huge homecoming for Rose, a local star who plays for the Bulls and was the NBA’s MVP in 2010 who missed 18 months and the entire 2013-14 season with two severe knee injuries.
Interestingly, senior national coach Mike Krzyzewski kept all three centers– Cousins, Drummond and Plumlee– in an attempt to see who fits best with his guard oriented team. Plumlee, a Duke alum, started the week with the Select team.
