The current iteration of Team USA (or what is left of it) has managed to fall not only out of the podium of the 2019 FIBA World Cup, but also out of the top six altogether after a 94-89 loss to Serbia on Thursday. There is very little honor to rescue fighting for seventh place, making the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics the event most fans will look forward to.
Will Team USA bounce back? Will the stars come out to play? Will the order of world basketball be restored with its rightful ruler above them all? Those are questions that are tough to answer at this moment.
Yet one can dream of what the potential roster could look like with USA Basketball once again set to go on a mission to salvage some honor after the most disappointing major international competition since NBA players were first allowed to take part in it.
Building this roster will be about more than assembling an All-Star-type team, but rather one that meets the needs of this program moving forward. The U.S. struggled with two particular problems: shooting the ball from the perimeter and stopping the opposition — this roster should bring a mix of elite shooting and solid defenders to address those issues.
| Position | Starter | Backup | Reserve |
| PG | Stephen Curry | Damian Lillard | |
| SG | Kyrie Irving | Bradley Beal | Devin Booker |
| SF | Kawhi Leonard | Paul George | Tobias Harris |
| PF | Anthony Davis | Draymond Green | |
| C | Myles Turner | Kevin Love |
Point guards: If the Golden State Warriors fall short of another NBA Finals run, Stephen Curry might actually have a free summer to dedicate to Team USA after five straight very busy seasons. His elite-level shooting could prove the key to this revamped team, opening up spaces and creating the same gravity he does for his NBA team.
Damian Lillard, who turned down the invitation to participate earlier last month, would fill in behind Curry as a very capable punch off the bench with many of the same qualities.
Shooting guards: With a year with his new team under his belt, Kyrie Irving should be primed for another Team USA run, much as he did in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.
Bradley Beal, who excused himself from consideration due to the birth of his new child, could play a large role as a potent shooter and play creator.
Devin Booker's scoring talent and dynamic ability to create his own offense could make for an interesting option at the two-guard, able to provide offense off the catch as well.
Small forwards: Kawhi Leonard has very little in his USA Basketball resume besides a 14-point game in a White vs. Blue scrimmage in 2015, yet he can be that dynamic two-way presence that changes it all for Team USA. What better way to reunite with former coach Gregg Popovich than to do so for the red, white, and blue?
Paul George has already starred as a super-sub in Rio and has the potential to do it again a year from now. His 3-point shooting and defensive instincts should make him a formidable sixth man that can fill in at three positions.
Tobias Harris could play a Joe Harris-like role as a floor-stretcher with deep range and excellent acumen from distance.
Power forwards: Should Anthony Davis answer the call, he'd make a sticker at the power forward spot, bringing the much-needed size this Team USA iteration lacked in this World Cup competition.
While Draymond Green won't bring much shooting for this roster, his versatility as a wrecking ball on defense, his high-octane motor and his playmaking abilities in the fast break should prove a helpful asset from a frontcourt position.
Centers: This was perhaps the most difficult position to pick and undoubtedly the one Popovich had the most trouble making sense of during the convocation process. Myles Turner gets the start here as a sign of continuity with this program, capable of blocking shots and rebounding, despite playing only an average of 19 minutes per game in this tournament.
Kevin Love gets a narrow nod over the glass-pounding Andre Drummond due to his shooting ability and the chance to switch with Davis in the frontcourt during possessions.
Notable omissions: James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Harden and Westbrook play a style that is dazzling to watch, but poisonous for the international stage. While they're able to play off the ball and still contribute due to their high talent level, they would both be functioning at less than their best.
It's like asking Jimi Hendrix, one of the most gifted guitar players to play the bass or a percussion instrument for your band. While he'd be able to do so, it would be a massive underuse of his genius as a lead guitarist. Same goes for Harden and Westbrook, who would have their share of issues fitting into Gregg Popovich's share-the-wealth system.
Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, who took part in the 2016 Rio Olympics, will both be sidelined with major injuries for all or part of this 2019-20 season. Generally players coming off these type of injuries use the summer to recover, making the presence of either marksman rather unlikely come 2020.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who was born in New Jersey but opted to play for the Dominican Republic, would be a downright no-brainer for this team, but the Minnesota Timberwolves talisman played for DR in the summer of 2016 and recently rejected a preliminary invitation to take part in the 2019 Las Vegas training camp, making any hopes of his availability rather nary.
. . .
It's important to note that even with this roster, the frontcourt could be Team USA's biggest weakness coming into the tournament, as most of those the prominent big men in the NBA play for a different country or are ineligible to play for the United States. Players like Towns, Rudy Gobert, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and even Giannis Antetokounmpo are among the 15 best players in the league and unavailable for poaching, which means their respective teams will try to showcase them whenever the two teams finally meet.
However international basketball is still largely dominated by guard play — and having capable players that can switch in the backcourt along with a well-rounded team that can shoot the ball from top to bottom could play a vital part in Team USA's success, as they hope to earn the gold that easily evaded them over the course of this tournament.
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