WHILE it pales in comparison to the Summer Olympics in terms of prestige, spectacularity and popularity, the FIBA Basketball World Cup (formerly known as the FIBA World Basketball Championship until the upcoming 17th edition) will always remain as the second-best attraction in the international basketball scene.
At least that’s the way the United States has treated the quadrennial tournament in the past and even in current times as shown by the 11th-hour withdrawals of several National Basketball Association (NBA) stars for participation in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Madrid, Spain from August 30-September 14.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and league scoring champion, is out. So are Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves out of Team USA. Various reasons for their withdrawals have been cited, including some that are hard to believe.
There were the phantom injuries (like Griffin’s suddenly-discovered back problems); lack-of-energy issues (mentally and physically fatigued Durant); and contract woes (Love, who is set to be traded officially by Minnesota in the next few days that would allow him to join Cavaliers returnee LeBron James at Cleveland in the 2014-15 NBA wars, and Durant, who has an upcoming $320 million shoe endorsement deal with Under Armour following the expiration of his contract with Nike and an option to become an NBA free agent in the summer of 2015).
In the case of Durant, let’s just say that his decision to quit the team might have something to do with the gruesome lower leg injury sustained by Indiana Pacers hotshot Paul George during a Team USA intra-squad scrimmage last August 1.
At the end of the day, though, my take is that the players do not think that the World Cup games are that important enough to risk their NBA contracts.
Remember, this is not an Olympic competition, when Team USA usually draws its biggest stars. That’s why James, who returned to his original NBA employer and hometown club Cleveland Cavaliers last July on a two-year, $42.1-million pact following four seasons and four Finals appearances (including a pair of championships in 2012 and 2013) with the Miami Heat, and Carmelo Anthony, an erstwhile free agent like LeBron who re-signed with the New York Knicks on a maximum five-year, $124-million deal, are sitting out the World Cup, too, but have made themselves available for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Be that as it may, Team USA is bidding to retain the World crown for the first time ever in its history. And it is just important for the Yanks to secure the gold medal any which way as only the tournament titlist will qualify automatically for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A non-golden finish means that the U.S. will have to see action in the Tournament of the Americas next year to earn an Olympic berth. Earning a slot for the Rio games won’t be a hard task as several Olympic berths are at stake in the TOA but the preparations that USA Basketball will have to contend with for the continental tournament can be time-consuming and likely it will again seek the services of NBA players to get the job done. That’s one problem USA Basketball would rather avoid.
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