Harrison Barnes had the unequivocal belief that if his name was called to join Team USA ahead of this upcoming FIBA 2019 World Cup, he was going to answer with a resounding yes. The Sacramento Kings forward was part of the gold-winning team that took the 2016 Rio Olympics by storm, cruising to a perfect 8-0 record:
“For me it was pretty simple,” Barnes explained, according to James Ham of NBC Sports California. “Assuming that everything was good with my family and my health is good, my answer to USA Basketball has always been yes. As long as they continue to invite me, as long as I can continue to be here, I’m going to keep coming out here and keep playing.”
More than 14 players have dropped out of consideration from participating in this summer's international competition, as managing director Jerry Colangelo has been forced to call up more than 50 names to take part in training this year alone.
Barnes' Kings teammate De'Aaron Fox recently got promoted to the senior team after being part of the Select Team that will scrimmage against the squad ahead of the final 12-man cut. The Kings point man was optimistic about his chances to make the cut, but has also soaked in all the beauty of this process:
“We’re here, we’re trying to get better, we’re growing,” Fox said. “We want to be able to put ourselves in that conversation. Everybody came out here trying to get better, trying to grow as players and when we get back to Sacramento, try to apply what we learned here.”
Should Barnes and Fox embark on this experience, they will return to Sacramento much better players than they were this past season.
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