USA Basketball has announced its 12-man roster for a pair of AmeriCup qualifying games that will be played later this month, according to a press release written by Michael Terry. The Americans will host Cuba in Kissimmee, Florida, on February 22, then will travel to Cuba for a second game on Feb. 25.
The roster is as follows:
- Jordan Bell, F/C
- Deonte Burton, G/F
- Michael Carter-Williams, G
- Will Davis, F
- RaiQuan Gray, F
- Dusty Hannahs, G
- Matthew Hurt, F
- Jayce Johnson, C
- Stanley Johnson, F
- Elfrid Payton, G
- Jahmi’us Ramsey, G
- Justin Wright-Foreman, G
Ten of the 12 players have at least some level of NBA experience, with Davis and Jayce Johnson the only exceptions. Carter-Williams, Stanley Johnson, and Payton are all former lottery picks. None of those 10 players are currently on NBA rosters, however, with Hurt being the most recent to play in the league (with Memphis on a 10-day hardship contract).
As previously reported, Jerome Allen will be the head coach for this round of qualifying games, with Melvin Hunt, Sydney Johnson and Bill Bayno serving as assistants. Bayno will also be a scout, per the release. Allen, Hunt and Bayno are all former NBA assistant coaches.
As Terry writes, the two qualifying games this month are the first of three qualifying windows ahead of the 2025 AmeriCup. In the other two qualifying windows, held Nov. 2024 and Feb. 2025, the U.S. will face Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, respectively.
Per the release, qualifying rounds consist of 16 teams distributed into four, four-team groups. Each team will play each opponent in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top three teams in each group (12 total) will advance to next year’s AmeriCup, which will occur Aug. 23-31, 2025, in Managua, Nicaragua.
Team USA has won the AmeriCup seven times, according to Terry, with the last victory coming in 2017. The Americans won bronze in 2022, which was the last time the tournament was held.
Most goofiest mish mash group of guys I’ve ever seen lol
FIBA has ruined international play with these stupid qualifying tournaments. As sporadic as they are no team can build any sort of chemistry and with them taking place during the pro season, nobody elite can actually represent their countries. Plus with the Americup no longer factoring towards qualifying for the Olympics or World Cup, it simply does not matter. As we saw in 2022, the best Americans and Canadians won’t play even if they qualify for it. It’s a shame to see FIBA ruin international basketball.
The qualifiers have to be in season because during the off season thats when you have the actual tournament.
This year for example, you have the olympics. How do you want to have qualifiers at the same time as a major tournament?? Not possible. Most leagues pause to allow their players to represent their countries, the nba just doesnt care about it lol
For decades the qualifier tournaments were held during odd number years. For example the EuroBasket tournament was held in say, 2001. The best performers earned spots in the 2002 World Championships. This format allowed the best to play and did not add weeks of training and extra games to pros already dealing with the physical burden of their long pro seasons.
Hawks don’t need to rebuild
Trade Trae Young to upgrade and get better