Celtics injured stars named to Team USA roster

USA Basketball has announced their preliminary roster for the 2018-2020 Men's National Basketball Team, and a couple of those named can currently be found rehabbing leg injuries for the Boston Celtics.


Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were two of thirty-five NBA players to be invited to the USA Men's National Team minicamp, which will take place in July. The official 12-man rosters for the 2019 FIBA World Cup and 2020 Olympic teams will be comprised of players from this group.

As for the rest of the pool:


The tentative roster includes 17 Olympic gold-medalists, and 30 returning players, who were named to the pool in past years. A friend to all of us is one of the five, first-time members. Isaiah Thomas will be eligible to represent the country for the first time in his career.

Like Hayward and Irving, however, Thomas likely won't take part in this summer's festivities, as all three players will still be recovering from their respective injuries. They will still be part of the USA Basketball pool through 2020, hence, will still be eligible for those 2019 and 2020 international events.

Gordon was named to the team's pool in past years, but has yet to make the 12-man cut. Kyrie, on the the hand, played in both the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Both teams won gold medals, and Kyrie was named the MVP of the 2014 FIBAs after averaging 12.1 points on 54.1% shooting, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.



Gregg Popovich will lead the team, replacing Coach K as the team's head coach, who recently stepped down after coaching the team for seven years.


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Photo 1: Getty Images
Photo 2: USA Basketball
Photo 3: USA Basketball
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