Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton headed to Las Vegas as member of USA Men’s Select Team
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton is heading to Las Vegas to train with some of the best basketball players in the world.
USA Basketball announced Thursday that Haliburton was one of 17 players named to the 2021 USA Men’s Select Team. The squad will train with the U.S. Olympic team during training camp July 6-9 in Las Vegas as it prepares for the Summer Games in Tokyo.
The Select Team will be led by Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley will serve as Spoelstra’s assistants.
Haliburton, 21, won a gold medal as a member of the 2019 USA U19 World Cup team. The Kings selected him out of Iowa State with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Haliburton was an NBA All-Rookie First Team selection and a finalist for Rookie of the Year. He finished third behind the Charlotte Hornets’ LaMelo Ball and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards.
Haliburton averaged 13.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals during his first season in Sacramento. He ranked second among rookies in assists and steals, third in scoring and ninth in 3-point shooting (.409). Haliburton missed the end of the season after hyperextending his knee, but he said the injury wouldn’t impact his summer training regimen.
Other players named to the Select Team were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons/Villanova); Miles Bridges (Hornets); Edwards (Timberwolves); Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers); Tyler Herro (Miami Heat); John Jenkins (Bilbao Basket, Italy/Vanderbilt); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville); Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers); Immanuel Quickley (New York Knicks); Naz Reid (Timberwolves); Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets); Isaiah Stewart (Pistons); Obi Toppin (Knicks); P.J. Washington (Hornets); and Patrick Williams (Chicago Bulls).
The roster includes 12 players who just completed their first or second NBA seasons, including six members of the 2021 NBA All-Rookie first and second teams. Bey, Edwards and Haliburton were first-team selections. Quickley, Stewart and Williams earned second-team honors. Herro and Washington were second-team selections in 2020.
“This USA Select Team continues the legacy established by previous Select teams of helping prepare our USA National Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games,” USA Basketball Managing Director Jerry Colangelo said in a news release. “With all the uncertainty of how many of our Olympic Team members will be available for the USA training camp because of the overlap with the NBA Finals, we chose a USA Select Team consisting of many of the top young NBA players and four players who not only own international experience, but who played recently for USA Basketball in important national team qualifying competitions. If we need to add players to fill out our roster for any of our exhibition games, we feel this USA Select Team has an excellent variety of skilled players to choose from.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 10:49 AM.
