We know the NBA players that fill out not only Team USA but other World Cup rosters are loaded as well — 45 guys currently on NBA teams will be playing in Spain. Guys like Goran Dragic suits up for Slovenia, or Rudy Gobert, Boris Diaw, Evan Fournier, and Ian Mahinmi will play for France. You get the idea.
But as John Schuhmann notes at NBA.com, a there are also 23 guys who used to be on NBA rosters also are playing in the World Cup.
The biggest names among them are Carlos Arroyo and Renaldo Balkman (both of whom play for Puerto Rico), Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain), and Andres Nocioni (Argentina).
Schuhmann makes another interesting observation: There are 17 other players drafted by NBA players who have been stashed overseas who will also be on World Cup rosters.
There’s Croatia’s Dario Saric, who the 76ers picked up in the last draft. There is Raul Neto playing for Brazil and maybe someday the Jazz. Bogdan Bogdanovic will be part of a pretty good Serbian team and could someday play for the Suns.
Team USA still has more depth of talent than any other team in the world — but there is talent all over the globe now. The days of the USA cruising to gold are fading. Fast.