Yahoo Sports USA Basketball announces 30 finalists for 2016 Olympic roster
Featuring LeBron James, Stephen Curry and four additional Golden State Warriors, USA Basketball on Monday announced its 30 finalists for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team roster.
The 30-man list includes NBA players from 17 teams who have won 29 Olympic or FIBA Basketball World Cup gold medals, as well as nine members of the gold-medal-winning 2012 London Olympic team. USA Basketball is expected to name its 12-man roster by late June, a source told Yahoo Sports. The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held Aug. 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro.
"Obviously, selecting the official roster of 12 players for the Olympics in 2016 will be a very, very difficult process,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in a statement. “As has been the case with past USA Basketball teams, the goal once again is to select the very best team possible to represent the United States.”
James and fellow three-time Olympic gold medalist Carmelo Anthony are on the 30-man list. USA Basketball is hopeful but not completely certain that James will play, according to a source. The USA roster also includes LaMarcus Aldridge, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, Kevin Durant, Kenneth Faried, Rudy Gay, Paul George, Draymond Green, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Gordon Hayward, Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Klay Thompson, John Wall and Russell Westbrook.
The reigning NBA champion Warriors have the most players on the list (Barnes, Curry, Green, Iguodala and Thompson), while the Cleveland Cavaliers (Irving, James and Love) and Los Angeles Clippers (Griffin, Jordan and Paul) each have three. Davis, Durant, Harden, Iguodala, Love, Paul and Westbrook were on the 2012 Olympic team along with James and Anthony.
"This selection process was difficult from the start, and obviously it is only going to get more difficult as we look to get to the official, 12-man roster," Mike Krzyzewski, who will be coaching USA Basketball for the last time, said in a statement. "I'm excited about the possibilities this team has. Among the finalists we have multiple players who won gold medals at the Olympic or World Cup level. The roster of finalists features incredible talent, great balance, outstanding leadership, and I believe, like we had with our previous teams, this team will have a special chemistry.”
Notable omissions from USA Basketball’s 30-man roster include Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard. Since NBA players started representing the United States in 1992, the U.S. team is 45-3 in six Olympics with five gold medals and one bronze. USA Basketball is tentatively scheduled to begin training camp in Las Vegas on July 18 and will play as many as five exhibitions, which are expected to all be in the United States, a source said.
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