While watching his fellow Americans dispatch of the Spanish national team in an exhibition on Friday night, Marcus Smart expressed full-throated optimism about being healthy enough to play in the FIBA World Cup. Less than 24 hours later, that unwavering confidence of Boston Celtics guard has proven well-founded.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, Smart has been cleared by Team USA doctors to return to the floor after missing nearly two weeks of play with a calf injury.
As they prepare to leave the country today, Team USA gets one roster boost to counter the unexpected departure of De'Aaron Fox: Marcus Smart, I'm told, has been cleared to make a full return to the court from the calf injury that has sidelined him for the past week-plus
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 17, 2019
On Friday, Smart told NBA TV's Jared Greenberg that he was “100 percent confident” he would be ready to play in China and was “feeling great” after intensive rehab efforts led by Team USA's training staff.
Smart originally suffered the injury on August 7. Though many players, including would-be team leaders like the Houston Rockets' James Harden, Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis, and Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, withdrew from consideration for the World Cup in part due to additional injury risk leading up to a wide-open 2019-20 season, Smart never considered leaving USA Basketball despite his injury.
Smart had a good chance of making Team USA's final roster even before beginning preparation for FIBA due to his status as one of the most versatile defenders in all of basketball and improving accuracy from beyond the arc. Before he went down with injury, national team assistant and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Smart had been among the Americans' top performers in training camp.
Now that he's officially healthy, expect Smart to play a key role for USA Basketball as it looks to bring home World Cup gold for the third consecutive cycle.
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