On Friday, FIBA announced that the 2019 World Cup will be held in China.
It’s hard to even speculate who will be on the USA roster in 2019 because the basketball landscape will obviously change drastically between now and then. When the tournament happens, Anthony Davis should be a god among men at the age of 26, and the team should theoretically be built around him. But the Team USA brass likes to send younger players to the World Cup rather than the established veterans.
Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin will all be in their 30s, so they’ll probably pass on the competition. The roster will most likely be filled with guys like Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon, and Jahlil Okafor, and other players we don’t even know about yet.
By 2019, the gap between the USA and the rest of the world will have shrunk considering. The best player from the last three draft classes are arguably international guys: Giannis Antentokoumpno, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Guys like Mario Hezonja, Rudy Gobert and hopefully Joel Embiid will be out there, as well.
(FIBA)
