Suns’ Devin Booker named to USA Basketball 35-man roster

As the Phoenix Suns season comes to a close, Devin Booker will be trading in the purple and orange for red, white and blue.

On Friday, Booker was selected as one of 35 NBA players named to the 2018-20 USA Basketball Men’s National Team roster pool.

This group features 17 Olympic gold medalists, including 11 members of the 2016 Rio Olympic team, and 29 past members of the national team pool.

Among the new additions are Booker, along with C. J. McCollum (Portland), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee), Isaiah Thomas (Los Angeles) and Myles Turner (Indiana).

The invitation is Booker’s first call-up to the national team but he has previous experience with USA Basketball. In 2016 Booker was named to the USA Basketball Select Team, a group that trained against the USA National Team prior to the Olympics.

For USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo, an early selection of players is a chance to establish a strong title defense.

While we do not have an official competition that we need to prepare for in 2018, the selection and announcement of our new pool of national team members and this year’s July minicamp are important first steps in our preparations to defend the FIBA World Cup and Olympic titles we won during the last two quadrenniums … As is shown by the return of 29 past national team players, our pipeline is well developed and it is a key factor in our success. We’re also excited about the new players who have been added to the program and the roster will remain fluid over the next three years as we continue to look for and consider players who can contribute to our program.

Colangelo and head coach Gregg Popovich will get their first look at the roster pool during the USA Men’s National Team mini camp from July 25-27 in Las Vegas.

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