USA Basketball has formally announced its 12-man roster for the next window of FIBA World Cup qualifying games, which will tip off later this month.
The following players will represent Team USA in games against the Dominican Republic on February 26 and Mexico on March 1 at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California:
- Tevian Jones, G
- Taevion Kinsey, G
- Brandon Knight, G
- Dakota Mathias, G
- Elfrid Payton, G
- Jaden Shackelford, G
- Malcolm Hill, F
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, F
- David Roddy, F
- Terry Taylor, F
- Jeremiah Tilmon, C
- James Wiseman, C
Knight, Shackelford, and Tilmon also played for Team USA in the fall during the first window of World Cup qualifying games. The U.S. team, which is being coached by former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, won both of those matchups against Nicaragua and will take its 2-0 record and a new-look roster into these qualifiers.
Wiseman is the most notable addition to the 12-man squad. The former No. 2 overall pick has appeared in 152 NBA regular season games over the course of six seasons in the NBA and suited up for the Pacers earlier in 2025/26. Wiseman has been a free agent since he was released by Indiana on December 26.
Payton, Robinson-Earl, Roddy, and Taylor are among the other newcomers with recent NBA experience. Last season, Payton played for New Orleans and Charlotte, Roddy suited up for three different teams, and Taylor had a brief stint with the Kings. Robinson-Earl, like Wiseman, played for the Pacers earlier in ’25/26 and also made five appearances for the Mavericks on a 10-day contract last month.
This is the second of six windows of qualifying games for the 2027 FIBA World Cup, which will tip off on August 27, 2027. Team USA will also compete in qualifiers in July, Aug./Sept., and Nov./Dec., with the final qualifying window opening in Feb. 2027.
The actual World Cup roster is unlikely to feature any of the players in this 12-man group, since the U.S. typically sends a more star-studded squad to the event itself, which takes place during the NBA offseason. However, the qualifying games give some less-heralded players the opportunity to represent their home country and to help Team USA clinch its spot in the World Cup.
Stay in shape get in shape big fella ……
No one here has an NBA contract, right. Good opportunity I guess.
In prior decades, USA teams that were full of NBA tweeners like this would crush the opps. Lets see how far the world has come up in the last couple decades by how well these guys do.
And this US team is even worse than NBA tweeners, most of these guys never even sniffed real minutes. Roddy had by far the best career and he’s a borderline NBA player.
But I think they’ll still win easily, DR and Mexico aren’t any good.
“NBA tweener” = players who are on NBA rosters, but never sniff real minutes. This differs from players getting real minutes on real contracts.
“Roddy had by far the best career and he’s a borderline NBA player.”
Brandon Knight and Elfrid Payton had much, much better careers, Knight especially.
So these former G-League and NBA guys play for the qualifiers and then the good young players in the NBA take over if they qualify?
I’m very hype to see Miikka Muurinen playing for Finland in their WC qualifiers vs Belgium on the same day. Muurinen prob headed to UK, Duke, Arkansas or Michigan next season then top10 draft pick in 2027. He’d prob be a 1st rd pick this yr if he woulda chose Australia (NBL) over staying in Europe (EuroLeague) this season. He hasn’t had much pt at all for Partizan this yr & has beefed with his head coach but he’s a big time talent & it’ll be good to see if his game has progressed at all… link to youtube.com
IS this the G-League version of team USA?
I still see Wiseman with a good career. Need to get healthy more than anything. He should call up Thibs. Get his big man game down. Thibs can teach and help him a lot ……. no reason why he can’t be a premier rim protector. Go et it.