WASHINGTON, July 14 — NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant and three other members of the 2012 Olympic championship team were named today in the 19-man US training camp for the Basketball World Cup.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Durant, Minnesota big man Kevin Love, Houston guard James Harden and New Orleans standout Anthony Davis were among those on the London squad which captured gold.
Durant and Love will also be reunited with two of their team-mates from the 2010 world champion squad — Golden State’s Steph Curry and Chicago’s Derrick Rose.
Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Chandler Parsons, who has signed with Dallas after playing last season for Houston, were named as newcomers to the USA Basketball talent pool starting with this world selection camp.
Others attending include Washington’s Bradley Beal, Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins, Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Denver’s Kenneth Faried, Indiana’s Paul George, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah’s Gordon Hayward, Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, Atlanta’s Kyle Korver, Portland’s Damian Lillard and Golden State’s Klay Thompson.
The NBA players will take part in the camp from July 28-August 1 in Las Vegas, concluding with an intersquad scrimmage.
Those selected will gather August 14-15 in Chicago and play exhibition games against Brazil in Chicago on August 16, Dominican Republic on August 20 in New York, Puerto Rico two days later in New York and Slovenia in Spain on August 26.
The Americans will defend their world title at the Basketball World Cup from August 30-September 14 in Spain.
They will join New Zealand, Turkey, Ukraine and Dominican Republic in Group C in the first round of the 24-nation competition.
The World Cup winners qualify automatically for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
If the Americans fail to win the title, they will have to seek an Olympic berth at next year’s Tournament of the Americas. — AFP
