Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge Withdraws From 2014 USA Basketball FIBA World Cup Team
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge has withdrawn his name from consideration to play for Team USA in the 2014 Basketball World Cup later this summer in Spain, according to a release from USA basketball.
USA Basketball issued a press release this morning including the names of all the players on the roster and Aldridge’s name wasn’t on the list. The 19 player pool for the team is below.
A source confirms that Aldridge was initially invited to the 19-player pool but withdrew his name.
Bradley Beal G 6-5 207 6/28/93 Washington Wizards / Florida
DeMarcus Cousins C 6-11 270 8/13/90 Sacramento Kings / Kentucky
Stephen Curry G 6-3 185 3/14/88 Golden State Warriors / Davidson
Anthony Davis F/C 6-10 220 3/11/93 New Orleans Pelicans / Kentucky
DeMar DeRozan G 6-7 216 8/07/89 Toronto Raptors / USC
Andre Drummond C 6-10 270 9/10/93 Detroit Pistons / Connecticut
Kevin Durant G 6-9 230 9/29/88 Oklahoma City Thunder / Texas
Kenneth Faried F 6-8 228 11/19/89 Denver Nuggets / Morehead State
Paul George F/G 6-8 221 5/02/90 Indiana Pacers / Fresno State
Blake Griffin F 6-10 251 3/16/89 Los Angeles Clippers / Oklahoma
James Harden G 6-5 220 8/26/89 Houston Rockets / Arizona State
Gordon Hayward F 6-8 210 3/23/90 Utah Jazz / Butler
Kyrie Irving G 6-3 191 3/23/92 Cleveland Cavaliers / Duke
Kyle Korver G/F 6-7 212 3/17/81 Atlanta Hawks / Creighton
Damian Lillard G 6-3 195 7/15/90 Portland Trail Blazers / Weber State
Kevin Love F 6-10 260 9/07/88 Minnesota Timberwolves / UCLA
Chandler Parsons F 6-9 227 10/25/88 Dallas Mavericks / Florida
Derrick Rose G 6-3 190 10/04/88 Chicago Bulls / Memphis
Klay Thompson G 6-7 205 2/08/90 Golden State Warriors / Washington State
Aldridge is not the first player initially in the pool to withdraw himself from consideration. Last week Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook withdrew his name from consideration and earlier today San Antonio forward and 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard did the same.
Via Casey Holdahl, Colangelo said this about Aldridge earlier today.
“We can only offer an opportunity,” Colangelo said in a conference call Monday morning, “and then they can either accept or not. In Aldridge’s case, this has happened a couple of times previously. But the bottom line is he advised us that he’s not available.”
Westbrook has had multiple knee procedures in the past year and Kawhi Leonard just helped lead his team to an NBA Championship against the Miami Heat. Aldridge has played heavy minutes the last few seasons and it appears as though he is doing the same to prepare his body for the 2014-15 season.
However, Portland still may have a representative on Team USA as Damian Lillard was included on the 19-man roster. Only 12 players will make the roster out of the 19.
The Team USA training camp begins on July 28th and goes to August 1. The FIBA Basketball World Cup begins August 30 in Spain.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.