A recently-retired Dwyane Wade knows USA Basketball will have a tough task ahead for this upcoming World Cup, as Team USA will have to make longer strides that before to repeat as the champs.
“It's going to be a very exciting tournament with some very intense games,” Wade told FIBA Basketball. “China is going to be the center of the basketball world and the teams are going to give everything. Team USA is going to fight to keep their crown after their title in Spain five years ago.
“The top three spots are going to be tough to reach for every team. The battle is going to be very, very intense.”
Not only is the rest of the world catching up in terms of skill and knowledge about the game, but the U.S. has a particular downside this time around, as they did not play any preliminary games to qualify for the tournament due to the clash with the NBA schedule.
Instead, it was interim head coach Jeff Van Gundy taking the torch for Team USA and rallying a group of G League and overseas Americans to compete in the qualifiers, racing to a 9-2 record to punch their ticket to China.
Team USA will no longer have perennial talents like LeBron James, Chris Paul, or all-time leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, while others will be impacted by injury (Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Victor Oladipo) and free agency (Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard).
The Americans are coming off a rousing win in World Cup competition, storming to a perfect 9-0 tournament and a 37-point win in the final against Serbia.
Wade, who won a gold Olympic medal in the Beijing Games in 2008, never mustered gold in World Cup competition, forced to settle for a bronze in 2006 in Japan.
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