By ADAM ZAGORIA
After winning gold medals with USA Basketball at the 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup, R.J. Hampton has withdrawn from the USA U19 World Cup team, his father told ZAGSBLOG.
“Being a professional, he’s got to have an insurance policy,” Rod Hampton said Thursday by phone. “We haven’t gotten the insurance all set, you know if he gets hurt. And that’s all it was.”
R.J. Hampton recently stunned the basketball world by signing to play with the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s NBL instead of attending college at Memphis, Kansas or Texas Tech. Hampton later said he had signed his pro contract a month before his announcement that he was going pro.
His father said R.J. still hoped to be a part of USA Basketball in the future.
“Oh, without a doubt, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rod Hampton said, adding they planned to leave for New Zealand in August.
Hampton was one of several players to withdraw from the 32-man training camp that gets underway Friday in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
New additions to the training camp roster include Jared Butler (Baylor University/Reserve, La.) and Reggie Perry (Mississippi State/Thomasville, Ga.),while Hampton, Auburn commi , Isaac Okoro (McEachern H.S./Powder Springs, Ga.), Washington commit Isaiah Stewart (La Lumiere School, IN/Rochester, N.Y.) and Michigan State signee Mark Watts Jr. (SPIRE Institute/Pontiac, Mich.) have withdrawn from attending the camp.
The training camp will be used to determine the official, 12-member
roster for the 2019 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team, which will
be selected by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee.
Finalists for the team are expected to be announced on the morning of
June 18, and the team will be named prior to its departure for the 2019
FIBA World Cup in Greece on June 24. The FIBA U19 World Cup will take
place June 29-July 7 in Heraklion, Greece. Athletes eligible for this
team must be U.S. citizens born on or after Jan. 1, 2000.
In addition to Butler and Perry, five athletes will be college sophomores in 2019-20, including Kessler Edwards (Pepperdine/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), Tyrese Haliburton (Iowa State/Oshkosh, Wis.), Kira Lewis Jr. (Alabama/Meridianville, Ala.), Isaac Likekele (Oklahoma State/Mansfield, Texas), Jayden Scrubb (John A. Logan College/Louisville, Ky.), Trevion Williams (Purdue/Chicago, Ill.) and Bryce Wills (Stanford/White Plains, N.Y.).
Attending from the graduating high school class of 2019 will be: Eric Dixon (Abington H.S./William Grove, Pa.), Dajuan Gordon (Curie H.S./Chicago, Ill.), Justin Moore (DeMatha Catholic H.S./Accokeek, Md.), Casey Morsell (St. John’s College H.S./Washington, D.C.), Zeke Nnaji (Hopkins H.S./Hopkins, Minn.), Onyeka Okongwu (Chino Hills H.S./Chino, Calif.), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (IMG Academy, FL/Overland Park, Kan.), Anton Watson (Gonzaga Prep/Spokane, Wash.), Romeo Weems (New Haven H.S./Chesterfield, Mich.) and Samuell Williamson (Rockwall H.S./Rockwall, Texas).
From the high school class of 2020 will be: Scottie Barnes (University School/West Palm Beach, Fla.), Nimari Burnett (Prolific Prep, Calif./Chicago, Ill.), Joshua Christopher (Mayfair H.S./Lakewood, Calif.), Sharife Cooper (McEachern H.S./Powder Springs, Ga.), Cade Cunningham (Montverde Academy, Fla./Arlington, Texas), Hunter Dickinson (DeMatha Catholic H.S., Md./Alexandria, Va.), Jalen Green (Prolific Prep/Fresno, Calif.), Walker Kessler (Woodward Academy/Newnan, Ga.), Caleb Love (Christian Brothers College H.S./St. Louis, Mo.), Evan Mobley (Rancho Christian School/Temecula, Calif.), Ethan Morton (Butler H.S./Butler, Pa.), Jalen Suggs (Minnehaha Academy/Minneapolis, Minn.) and Ziaire Williams (Notre Dame H.S./Sherman Oaks, Calif.).
The USA will be led by U19 head coach Bruce Weber (Kansas State), with assistant coaches Mike Hopkins (Washington) and LeVelle Moton (North Carolina Central).
The court coaches assisting at training camp will includeRodney Billups (University of Denver), Jeff Britt (Bethel University, Tenn.), Jeff Culver (University of Colorado Colorado Springs), Chris Holtmann (Ohio State University) and Hank Plona (Indian Hills Community College).
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