(Reuters) – Washington Wizards guards John Wall and Bradley Beal and Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap were cut by USA Basketball yesterday as they pared down to 16 finalists for the 12-man team for this month’s World Cup in Spain.
The 20-player pool had already lost Indiana Pacers forward Paul George, who suffered a compound fracture of his lower right leg while playing in a scrimmage on Friday.
Three 2012 Olympic gold medallists – Kevin Durant, James Harden and Anthony Davis – are among a finalists list that includes 2010 world championship gold medal winners in Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry and Durant.
Other finalists include DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, Kenneth Faried, Gordon Hayward, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Korver, Damian Lillard, Chandler Parsons, Mason Plumlee and Klay Thompson.
“We’re excited about where the team is headed,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “Really all 16 guys have a chance to make to the team…and it shows that all of the guys thus far have done an excellent job.
“It’s just a matter of finding what chemistry that we can develop with the entire group and I don’t think we’ll know that until we play some exhibition games,” Krzyzewski added.
Following the now-completed Las Vegas training camp, the team will resume preparations on Aug. 14 in Chicago and play an exhibition game against Brazil at the United Center on Aug. 16.
They will move to New York on Aug. 18 and play exhibitions at Madison Square Garden, on Aug. 20 against Dominican Republic, and Aug. 22 v Puerto Rico.
The defending champions will complete their pre-World Cup exhibition tour on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, facing Slovenia at Gran Canaria Arena on Aug. 26 before moving to Bilbao, Spain, site of their World Cup preliminary round games.
Featuring 24 national teams at various venues in Spain, the World Cup will begin on Aug. 30 with the gold medal game in Madrid on Sept. 14.
