SALT LAKE CITY — Some of the NBA’s biggest stars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and former Weber State star Damian Lillard were announced Friday for the 2018-20 USA Men’s National Team.
Although no Utah Jazz players were selected among the 35 picked for Team USA, managing director Jerry Colangelo said the committee is certainly keeping their eyes on the team’s young rising star in Donovan Mitchell.
“For the moment the list we submitted is the list and I said also it’s a very fluid list,” Colangelo said. “It could be some additions, but for sure we see Donovan Mitchell as someone involved in USA Basketball as we move forward.”
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will lead the national team coaching staff as head coach. Team USA will report to minicamp this summer in Las Vegas, which will feature daily practices on July 25-27 at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center.
From there, the final 12-man roster for the official 2019 USA World Cup and 2020 U.S. Olympic teams will get picked from the USA National Team.
As Mitchell enjoys a record-setting rookie campaign in Salt Lake City, he could be one of the young stars brought in to scrimmage against the veterans.
Mitchell currently leads all rookies in scoring with 20.4 points per game and is one of six first-year players in league history to lead a team in scoring with the squad winning 40 or more games.
The Jazz public relations staff has even launched a campaign for him to win Rookie of the Year with a DonovanMitchellROY.com website.
Mitchell is also approaching history, as he needs just six 3-pointers to tie Lillard’s rookie record of 185 treys made in his first season.
“Well, we had a lot of discussion about Donovan Mitchell. He’s had a terrific rookie season and another class, character guy,” Colangelo said. “So, as we move forward here, Pop and I are talking about the possibility of bringing in some young studs like him as we have in the past getting ready for different competitions to be part of it.”