By: Adrian De Guzman, Reporter

As the world turns their eyes to watch the basketball World Cup, the USA Basketball Team gets ready to head over to Spain for the higly anticipated event for fans. The team is participating in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The tournament consists of sixteen teams from different countries, and is taking place in several different arenas throughout Spain.

This team includes many star NBA players, such as Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Anthony Davis among some of the players participating in the tournament. This superstar team for Team USA was chosen in August.

Though the USA is typically considered one of the strongest countries when it comes to basketball, and is currently ranked number one in the FIBA World rankings, the tournament won’t be all fun and games for the team. Some of the USA’s top players will be sitting out this tournament, including LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, and others opted out after Paul George’s gruesome leg injury, such as Kevin Durant and Kevin Love as well. Without these key players, Team USA won’t be having quite as easy as a time as many would have thought.

Boys Varsity Coach Sylvester Wynn says “There’s no doubt about it. You have some of the best players in the world, you put them all together, you got the best team in the world.”

Coach Wynn believes that if Team USA had these superstars, Team USA could have been a much better team than they are now. Though the team doesn’t have all of the NBA’s great players, many people still think that the USA has a very good chance of winning the competition.

Even though Team USA is missing many of the top NBA players, there are still many people who believe that Team USA can still take it all the way and win the entire tournament, just with their raw talent.

Freshman Jason Raman says, “The USA is the best team in the competition. They could probably beat any team by a margin of 30 points.”

However, others believe that the USA doesn’t need to function on their individual player’s talents to push them through the competition. Some people think that they’re talent as a whole team together will be able to push them to the chamionship.

Freshman Kishaun Hutchinson says, “They’re the best [basketball team] – a team that can play together… They play as a whole team. That’s why they’re going to win.”
This FIBA tournament is a test for Team USA on a global scale. Team USA has the chance to prove that they are the best team in the world, all in this competition. If USA is able to win the championship, we will finally be able to say that the USA is the best in the world.