The basketball team USA disembarked this Wednesday in Malaga with an expedition of up to 108 people to prepare the two friendlies that it will play in the Centenary Tournament of the Spanish Federation, which will pit it against Slovenia y spain in the Martín Carpena Palace and that will serve as preparation for the World Cup this summer, in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
With Steve Kerr as coach, former NBA player Grant Hill as technical director and with a group of assistant coaches made up of Mark Few, Tyronn Lue or Jeff Van Gundy, the youngest US team in living memory (no player is older than 28 years of Bobby Portis) has arrived in Malaga on a charter flight from Las Vegas, where he has completed the first phase of preparation for the World Cup.
The players that make up Kerr’s chosen roster are Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Josh Hart (New York Knicks), Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers), and Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans), Michal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets), Cam Johnson (Brooklyn Nets), Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Bobby Portis (Milwaukee Bucks), Jaren Jackson (Memphis Grizzlies) and Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz).
None of the players who were at the Tokyo Olympics repeat, a very high-level team led by Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard or Jayson Tatum, all of them franchise players in their respective NBA teams.
However, many are leaders of their franchises: Haliburton has been an ‘all star’; Anthony Edwards is already a star; the Italian-American Paolo Banchero was number one in the 2022 Draft and won the award for best rookie that same season or Brandon Ingram is another experienced ‘all star’.
All of them have come with personal trainers for each player, some sent by their own teams; coaching staff and doctors, press team, relatives and guests; a total of 108 people who will stay, as well as Slovenia y spainat the El Higuerón hotel.
The place where the teams and their surroundings will spend the night is located a few meters from the state-of-the-art facilities where they will train on Thursday and Friday, the Higuerón Training Center, in the town of Fuengirola, where spain y Sloveniawho will arrive in Malaga on Thursday, will also alternate practices before going to the Martín Carpena.
It will be in the pavilion of the capital of Malaga, where Unicaja usually plays, where the Centenary Tournament of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) will be held this weekend, which brings together three of the favorite teams to win the World Cup in Indonesia , Japan and the Philippines that takes place from August 25 to September 10.
The Malaga tournament will begin with a spain–Slovenia on Friday, he will continue with the Slovenia–USA on Saturday and will conclude with the spain–USA on Sunday, all of them at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. GMT), with all tickets sold out.
EFE/Alberto Fuentes
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2023-08-09 23:15:15
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