Should Team USA Continue Using NBA Players?

When Paul George went down with that nasty injury during a Team USA scrimmage, many critics came out demanding NBA players not be made available for international competitions. Nonetheless, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver held his ground telling USA Today Sports, “I don’t anticipate a major shift in the NBA’s participation in international competitions.” The main opponents to Silver’s stance will be the NBA owners, including Dallas Mavericks’ Mark Cuban. Cuban claims NBA players are sent to international events with the NBA paying their yearly salaries and the IOC or FIBA receiving the financial benefits they provide during international tournaments. Ultimately, I believe USA Basketball is a critical part of the sport for our country. It is a way to showcase our talent just as we do in other Olympic sporting events. Obviously, Paul George being sidelined for all of next season is a huge blow to the upcoming season for the potential title-contending Indiana Pacers, but injuries are part of the game. This issue is virtually the same thing as MLS teams or other soccer leagues across the world having their players compete in the World Cup and other international matches.

While all of this news was going around, I started to think of what Team USA would look like if NBA players weren’t allowed to compete. It would largely consist of college players and with the increased amount of 1-and-dones, this could potentially be a very young unit. Here is what I came up with for the non-NBA Team USA:

STARTERS
PG: Marcus Paige, North Carolina
SG: Ron Baker, Wichita State
SF: Stanley Johnson, Arizona
PF: Cliff Alexander, Kansas
C: Jahlil Okafor, Duke

BENCH
Montrezl Harrell, Louisville
Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Tyus Jones, Duke
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Caris Levert, Michigan
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
Olivier Hanlan, Boston College

Despite this squad not even being comparable to a squad with NBA guys, this team could definitely be very competitive in this summer’s FIBA competition. Yes, it has some freshman in the starting lineup who have never played in a collegiate game, but these are future top-10 NBA draft picks. A couple other players, like Baker and Niang, fit perfectly into the style of play exhibited at the international level thanks to their versatility. All of this is just speculation as it looks like Adam Silver is in no hurry to prohibit NBA players from suiting up for Team USA, but it is interesting to see what kind of team the United States is capable of assembling if the circumstances presented themselves.