The 2019 FIBA World Cup is set to begin from August 31 and many teams are starting their training camps soon. The United States team will be looking to register their third consecutive FIBA World Cup trophy. However, they were jolted before they have started their training camps.
First, some of its key stars namely Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, James Harden, and C.J. McCollum pulled out from the mega event. Then followed the withdrawals of other stars Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, Tobias Harris, and Zion Williamson. While Kevin Love and Paul Millsap who were earlier part of the original roster also decided to sit out the tournament.
Despite all these things, the US team is still favored to win the 2019 FIBA World Cup. And if you want to wager through pa online sports betting, then you would be wise to put your money on the chances of the USA team who has been dominating the basketball world for many years now.
Led by coach Gregg Popovich, the US team can still boast of players like Kemba Walker, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, and Donovan Mitchell, etc. Since they lost against Greece in the semi-finals of the 2006 FIBA World Cup, the US team has been impeccable in all the major tournaments they competed in.
The withdrawal of star players isn't anything new as it happened in the 2014 FIBA World Championship too but they were just as good as before. Their star players Kevin Durant, Blake Grifin, Love and LaMarcus Aldridge had all pulled out in that competition. The same thing happened in the 2016 Rio Olympics(Authority link: ) when the US team were missing their key players Steph Curry, Harden, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook.
The USA team won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after outclassing the 2006 FIBA World Champions Spain in the final. The Americans then went on to win the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul. They defeated Turkey in the final by 81-64 after winning all their matches of the tournament.
Gold at the London Olympics was followed by their successes at the 2014 FIBA World -Championship(Authority link: ) which saw the US team claiming back-to-back trophies. Once more, they won all their group games before heading confidently to the knock-outs where they defeated Mexico, Slovenia, and Lithuania to make it to the finals in Madrid.
In the final match, they completely dominated Serbia and registered an emphatic 129-92 victory. While their most recent victory at the 2016 Summer Olympics where they bested Serbia once again in the final.
This means that the Americans haven't lost a match in a major competition since they were knocked out from the 2006 World Championship by Greece in the semi-finals. No wonders, they are the top favorites to win the 2019 FIBA World Cup.