Team USA has undergone a facelift for much of the last decade and huge part of that resuscitation has been the inclusion of younger players to train and compete for spots on the team years before they're probably ready. The latest crop of youth to do so was announced this morning by USA Basketball and few familiar names popped up.
Point guard D'Angelo Russell and power forward Julius Randle made the list of 25 players to head to camp this summer, which is being held in Las Vegas. A third notable name was on the list as well: Brandon Ingram, who seems like a shoe-in to be selected by the Lakers in a couple weeks.
The news is obviously great as Russell, Randle and Ingram should be honored to be included, but logistically, the Lakers as a whole will benefit from these three getting some extra playing time in while surrounded by the other top young players in the country and under the watchful eye of Greg Popovich, who will be managing the training camp.
Look around the league and it's pretty hard to find superstars at this point who haven't partaken in the Team USA program and many of them cite those times as a major stepping stone towards their success. At the end of the day, playing basketball alongside the absolute elite tier of fellow NBA player can almost never be a bad thing.
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