Austin Reaves reportedly set to play for Team USA at FIBA World Cup

Austin Reaves has already parlayed his breakout season into a big contract in the coming weeks once free agency starts, but now he’ll take another step in his career. According to a report from Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Reaves will take part in the FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards, Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves, Brooklyn Nets small forward Mikal Bridges, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson have committed to play for Team USA, league sources told The Athletic.

The FIBA World Cup will take place in late August in New Zealand. USA’s group consists of Jordan, Greece and the hosts New Zealand. Their first game will be on Aug. 26 with group play lasting until Aug. 30. The tournament will continue with another group play round and a knockout stage through Sep. 10.

Training camp with Team USA will start on Aug. 3 with an exhibition on Aug. 7 before a European road trip after to prepare for the event. Steve Kerr will coach the team this season while Grant Hill has served as the managing director, both in their first cycles in their positions.

The most recent FIBA World Cup appearance by Team USA came in 2019 where America finished a dismal seventh. However, that performance did not come with Him on the roster.

Interestingly, Reaves had looked set to play for Germany. During the season, news surfaced that he had spoken with teammate Dennis Schröder and the national team head coach Gordon Herbert about playing for the team and everything seemed point in the direction of Reaves, who owns a German passport, playing in the FIBA World Cup for them this summer.

In his exit interview, though, Reaves was asked about the status of that and said things were on hold and he had no discussions since, presumably, the initial discussions around March.

“We haven’t had any conversations recently,” Reaves said. “It’s been a couple months since I talked to anybody. But the whole plan was to not do anything this summer but, eventually, I would like to experience that.”

That hesitation from the German national team will prove to be costly. Once Reaves plays for USA in the FIBA World Cup, he will be tied to that country and no longer eligible for Germany, barring being granted a nationality switch which seems unlikely.

It’s been quite the journey for Reaves, who has gone from undrafted rookie to Team USA representative in less than two years. As cliche as it is, it really is a storybook journey.

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