Yahoo Sports Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. named to Team USA Select Team. What it means for Jaquez
Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra will represent the Miami Heat on Team USA’s men’s basketball team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. And Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. will help Team USA prepare for the Olympics.
With Team USA announcing on Friday the 15-man Select Team roster that will help the national team’s main team prepare for the Olympics, Jaquez made the cut for the Select Team after an impressive rookie season with the Heat.
Heat adds pair of undrafted standouts to two-way deals. Here’s a list of Miami’s undrafted commits
Along with the 23-year-old Jaquez, the Team USA men’s Select Team includes Jalen Duren (Detroit Pistons), Cooper Flagg (Duke University), Langston Galloway (Free Agent), Nigel Hayes-Davis (Fenerbahçe, Turkey), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Golden State Warriors), Brandon Miller (Charlotte Hornets), Trey Murphy (New Orleans Pelicans), Keegan Murray (Sacramento Kings), Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors), Micah Potter (Utah Jazz/Salt Lake City Stars), Payton Pritchard (Boston Celtics), Jabari Smith Jr. (Houston Rockets), Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic) and Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets).
The Heat also was represented on the Select Team that helped Team USA prepare for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, with Heat guard Tyler Herro on that roster and Spoelstra serving as the head coach of that Select Team.
Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley will serve as the head coach of this year’s Team USA Select Team and will be joined by assistant coaches Jim Boylen of the Indiana Pacers and Matt Painter of Purdue.
The Select Team will train with Team USA’s Olympic roster July 6-8 in Las Vegas. Team USA then begins its five-game exhibition schedule on July 10 against Canada in Las Vegas before opening the Olympics in France on July 28 against the Serbian national team.
Jaquez, who was born in the Los Angeles area to a mother of Norwegian descent and a father with Mexican roots, is only the sixth person with Mexican citizenship to play in the NBA. He even played for Mexico’s national team at the Pan American Games as a dual citizen when he was 19 years old.
But this time, Jaquez will help Team USA train for the Olympics. Adebayo is one of the 12 players on Team USA’s Olympic roster and Spoelstra is an assistant coach for the national team under Team USA head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors.
Jaquez, who was selected by the Heat with the 18th overall pick in last year’s draft, averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and one steal per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 32.2 percent on threes in 75 games (20 starts) as a rookie last regular season. Jaquez earned the first two Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards handed out by the league last season.
Since the development of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team program in 2006, USA Basketball has picked and used eight (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2023) teams to help the national team prepare for major international competitions. This year’s Select Team roster, which includes Jaquez, is the ninth such team that Team USA has put together.
Six players from this year’s Team USA Olympic roster have been on past Select Teams — Devin Booker (2016), Kevin Durant (2008), Anthony Edwards (2021), Tyrese Haliburton (2021), Jrue Holiday (2012) and Kawhi Leonard (2012).
