Boston Celtics star Kemba Walker admits that San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was one of the main reasons why he decided to play for Team USA in the upcoming 2019 FIBA World Cup.

While his fellow superstars dropped out of consideration for the USA Basketball roster, Walker opted to stay. PerJohn Karalis of MassLive, the 29-year-old point guard said that he was determined to play for the national team this summer regardless of the situation. However, he also pointed that the prospect of playing under Pop appealed to him.

“I would have come regardless, no question. But of course, I wanted to play for Pop,” Walker said. “Pop is a legendary coach. My ex-coach Borrego, he came through Popovich and I’ve heard so many great things about Pop from him. So, yeah. This is an honor.”

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Walker is expected to play a big role for Team USA in China after several superstars chose to sit out this summer. The three-time NBA All-Star said that while some fans are already counting them out, he is confident about their chances of retaining the world title — with Popovich doing a great job in letting every player know their roles.

USA will start their world title defense in Group E. They will be going up against Turkey, Czech Republic and Japan in the preliminary round of the tournament which will start on August 31.