Tyrese Haliburton reportedly to join Team USA for FIBA action this summer
Haliburton will joint several other players on Pacers roster who have FIBA opportunities.
Pacers lead guard Tyrese Haliburton will have a busy summer as he will reportedly play for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. The Athletic’s Shams Charania recently reported that Haliburton and Brooklyn’s Mikal Bridges were committing to play in the international event, joining other young guns, Anthony Edwards, Austin Edwards, Jalen Brunson and Bobby Portis on the roster so far.
Team USA is putting together what will eventually be a 12-man roster for the World Cup team to be coached by Steve Kerr. Hali’s commitment will have him going to Team USA’s training camp starting Aug. 3 which will lead to exhibition games and the World Cup competition over the following six weeks. His game should be in good shape when the open training camp at the end of September.
The Pacers have an international roster so Haliburton may not be the only player putting in World Cup work. Both Bennedict Mathruin and Andrew Nembhard are on the radar to play for Team Canada. Earlier this year, Canada’s coach, Nick Nurse mentioned that Mathurin “has expressed a strong interest in playing this summer.”
Oshae Brissett may not be with the Pacers next season, but he is among a group of Canadian players in the midst of a three-year commitment to be available for Team Canada. Chris Duarte has been playing for the Dominican Repbulic. Buddy Hield had a great summer last year playing for the Bahamas. And we all remember the rest Daniel Theis enjoyed after extended action with Team Germany.
As with Brissett, it is hard to tell how many of these players will still be on the Pacers roster in September after the team works their way through bolstering the roster this offseason. But in general, the opportunity for all of these players to have the international experience is a big bonus, particularly for the competitive rosters of Team USA and Team Canada.
Obviously, there is a risk associated with playing outside the Fieldhouse. “Paul George” is all you have to say if you want to point to an example of how it can all go wrong. But that risk is worth it for the growth opportunity with these guys battling other great players around the league both in team camps and then the actual World Cup games.
One of the sad lost stories of PG’s freak injury, was how during those Team USA workouts, he was taking his game to another level. Not only was he playing ‘death match’ one-on-one games with Kevin Durant after every practice, but he was more than holding his own against KD.
ARGHHHH!!! Everything was in place for that 2014-15 Pacers season…and then it wasn’t.
Sorry.
But, again…(deep breaths)…knowing the pain of the worst-case scenario, the benefits for Haliburton and Mathurin and any of these guys with a chance to play in the FIBA World Cup far outweigh those risks.
Plus, it gives us some quality hoops to watch during the normally dead time of late August.
We had some workout with Walker and Hendricks. Nobody have any thoughts?
Love that he's doing this. That type of experience seems well worth the minimal risk of injury.