Jayson Tatum, Mason Plumlee to travel to Australia with Team USA
Former Duke Basketball players Jayson Tatum and Mason Plumlee will both travel to Australia with Team USA as the team prepares for the FIBA World Cup.
Team USA was supposed to have an official roster for the FIBA World Cup by August 17.
It’s August 17 and we are going to have to wait a little longer for the team’s official roster.
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After a win in a scrimmage over Spain in Anaheim on Friday night ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk reported that Team USA will take all 14 players its roster to Australia for a pre-World Cup tour.
Head coach Gregg Popovich needs to make two cuts to get his roster down to 12 players before play starts on August 31.
Team USA will play three scrimmages in Australia, two against Team Australia and one against Canada before traveling to China for the FIBA World Cup, starting on August 31.
With the entire 14 man roster traveling to Australia, former Duke Basketball players Mason Plumlee and Jayson Tatum will have to wait with the rest of the team to learn their fate.
At this stage, Tatum appears as a lock to make the roster, barring injury, while Plumlee is still a wild card despite the withdrawal from P.J. Tucker on Friday afternoon due to an ankle injury.
Team USA has played in two organized scrimmages, winning both, one against the Team USA Select Team, made up on NBA players, and against Spain.
The National Team did drop a shortened scrimmage only open to media members this week against the G-League Select Team in Los Angeles.
Last Friday night Tatum led the way with 17 points against the Select Team while he only score 11 points against Spain this Friday.
Plumlee did not score, or take a shot in either game, but grabbed five rebounds in the first scrimmage and just two in the second scrimmage.
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Jayson Tatum has approximately played a combined 37 minutes in the two games while Plumlee has just played a combined 23 minutes.
There will be cuts made from Australia and two players will be unhappy with the decisions although Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been dealing with a hand injury but insists that he will be ready to play by August 31.