USA Basketball has invited several players to an upcoming minicamp in Las Vegas in preparation for building the 2016 Olympic roster, reports ESPN's Marc Stein. Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Tobias Harris and Trey Burke received invitations to the camp, which will be held Aug. 11-13 on UNLV's campus.
Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley among 6 players invited to Team USA minicamp next month
The pool of possible options for Team USA’s 2016 Olympic roster keeps expanding.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Managing director Jerry Colangelo describes the meetup as a "reunion" for the various players who have played for Team USA in recent years, but says attendance is mandatory for anyone who wants to be part of the 12-man roster heading to Rio de Janeiro for next year's Summer Olympics. Even players still recovering from injury as such Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant and Paul George are expected to be present.
The complete list of players being considered for the 2016 roster hasn’t been released yet, but it will reportedly include the 34 players previously listed by Team USA as well as the six named above. Players from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams will also be given the chance to compete for spots.
That massive pool of players shows the challenges that face Colangelo, head coach Mike Kryzewski and the rest of the USA Basketball leadership with roughly a year before the Olympics. Sorting through all these All-Stars is a good problem to have, but it’s clear there will be a lot of tough choices made to pare the roster down to a dozen. Now we can add Butler, Conley, Green, Barnes, Harris and Burke to the mix, although it’s probably fair to consider some of those players major long shots on a team that could feature several recent NBA MVPs.
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