STANFORD -- It’s conceivable that five Warriors could be teammates for Team USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and perhaps the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
In which case they’ll see a familiar face: Steve Kerr.
Kerr was named Thursday as an assistant to head coach Gregg Popovich on the Team USA coaching staff. Actual participation of the players -- DeMarcus Cousins, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson -- is conditional, according to Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Men’s Basketball.
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“How that all plays out over the next couple years remains to be seen,” Colangelo said Thursday in a conference call. “There aren’t that many spots. The first thing we have to determine -- and we think we have a pretty good feel for this -- is who’s really committed? Who’s really interested in moving forward with us? And there are a lot of candidates on the Warriors who have indicated they wish to be part of it.
“So as we watch this season -- and this is not the secret sauce -- we have to monitor what’s happening during the course of the regular season in the NBA, as it relates to injuries, as it relates to other circumstances that come up, before we get down to really inviting the number of individuals that we plan to, to come to our camp next summer in preparation for the World Cup.”
Curry, Cousins, Durant, Green, and Thompson are all listed on the unofficial 2018-20 USA Basketball roster. So are 30 other active NBA players. Only 12 will be chosen.
“We have a national team roster, but we’re not bringing everyone in,” Colangelo said. “We’re not going to have tryouts. We’re going to have a workable number of players, and that’s fluid. We haven’t decided how many players will come in. It could be 16, it could be 18, but we only end up with 12.”
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Curry joked that his interest in joining the international squad diminished when Kerr was added to the staff.
“That decision really ruined my chances of playing,” Curry said after a practice Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus. “I don’t want to see Coach more than I have to. Coach Popovich should’ve known that before he hired Steve. Nobody wants to play for Steve.
“It’s an unfortunate situation.”
Seriously, though, Kerr considers himself fortunate to have been invited to join a staff that also includes Pacers coach Nate McMillan and Villanova coach Jay Wright.
“I’m really, really excited, especially because it’s Pop,” Kerr said. “But obviously, it’s an honor, no matter who is coaching, to represent your country. To be on the staff of the national team is a huge honor.”
