No LeBron James, no Stephen Curry – nevertheless, the USA are the big favourites going into the Basketball World Cup (25 August to 10 September). A disgrace like four years ago must not be repeated – a new, upcoming superstar is to ensure that this happens.
A first hint of nervousness blew through the basketball-savvy US community at the beginning of August. The seventh-place finish at the World Cup four years ago was Team USA’s worst ever in the competition, and the nation’s biggest stars had pulled out for 2023. And now this.
At the start of the preparation for the World Championships in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, the US team gathered for a training camp in Las Vegas. As sparring partners, the association set up the so-called Team Select, a compilation of mostly young NBA talents who are not quite ready for a call-up to the “real” national team. But this Team Select won the first two tests on the court.
But before anyone could start worrying seriously about the World Cup favourites, Head Coach Steve Kerr had long since calmed things down. A “time-honoured tradition” was this defeat against Team Select, the 57-year-old said. “Everybody knows the story from 1992. In 2019, Team Select also kicked our butts and that’s the point somewhere. You want a challenge for our guys. “
1992, that was the appearance of the “Dream Team” at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Among others: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and, and, and – more talent was never before united in a basketball team. And yet, this starting group also lost a preparatory game against Team Select, which at that time consisted of college players around the later NBA star Grant Hill, before they overran the Olympic competition.
Anthony Edwards: The next leap to superstardom?
The current World Cup squad is far from a dream team. The really big names of the NBA are missing. LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant are all absent, just to name a few. Nevertheless, the USA are the number one contender for the World Cup title. The line-up continues to impress with plenty of NBA power – and possibly a future superstar.
He goes by the name of Anthony Edwards. A 22-year-old young guard, number 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves and last season’s first All-Star in the world’s best basketball league. He played a big part in keeping the U.S. to a record of five wins and no losses in official pre-World Cup test games – and the loss to Team Select quickly faded into the background.
Such was the case in the match against Germany last weekend, the dress rehearsal before the start of the World Cup. Edwards led his team to a comeback win with 34 points after trailing by 16 at one point, cranked up the poster industry with a spectacular dunk over Daniel Theis and scored 14 points in the final quarter alone.
“There’s no question he’s the man with us,” Coach Kerr praised the 6-foot-9 athlete. “You can tell he knows that. The team knows it by now, even the fans are starting to see it … He really believes he’s the best player in the gym every night. “
Team USA: NBA power everywhere you look
This confidence has been with Edwards his entire career. It has made him one of the best scorers in the NBA and now the first option on the national team – ahead of more seasoned players like Brandon Ingram (25, New Orleans Pelicans), Jalen Brunson (26, New York Knicks) or Mikal Bridges (26, Brooklyn Nets).
Team USA also features the NBA’s reigning defender of the year, Jaren Jackson Jr (23, Memphis Grizzlies), the up-and-coming point guard Tyrese Haliburton (23, Indiana Pacers) or noble role player Austin Reaves (25) from the Los Angeles Lakers, who was also a candidate for the DBB team thanks to a German grandmother and passport.
Kerr can draw from a casket of young, athletic and versatile players, the team’s only shortcoming: a lack of length, which Germany also took advantage of when fighting for rebounds. The test game against the DBB team was therefore a good test, which Edwards and Co. passed
A new generation of NBA stars
“Man, that was fun,” concluded Edwards, who signed an early contract extension worth up to $260 million with the Timberwolves just this summer. “I haven’t had this much fun in a while. That was exciting. We were pretty far behind, so that was some real adversity.”
The USA may not be competing with LeBron, Curry and co. at this World Cup, but they are no less dangerous. It is a new generation that is on the verge of becoming absolute superstars, especially in the person of Edwards or even Haliburton.
“If you think about the USA basketball teams over the years … a lot of young players have made a leap at World Championships or Olympics,” Kerr said, surely with greats like Durant at the 2010 World Cup in mind. At the time, the now 34-year-old had only three years of NBA experience under his belt and was voted an All-Star for the first time in the pre-season. Just like Edwards in 2023. “To me, it feels like Anthony is making that leap right now. “
The fear factor for Team USA has suffered
Durant led the USA to their fourth of now five World Cup titles as the tournament’s most valuable player at the time – the same task now awaits Edwards. The Star squad should have no problems in the group stage with New Zealand, Greece and Jordan – at the same time Haliburton emphasised: “The fear factor with the opponents is a bit off.” The poor performance in 2019 has also ensured that.
Nevertheless, the real stumbling blocks will probably wait until after the preliminary round. Until then, Kerr still has enough time to filter out the best line-ups for the team, which does not yet know itself entirely inside out.
“We’re going to Manila with the feeling that we still have room for improvement,” Kerr said ahead of the trip to the Philippines, where the Americans will play their preliminary round matches. “But we’re also going there with a lot of confidence. The guys like each other, they play well together, they fight.” And they have a possible rising new star.
