Day: November 6, 2023

The 2023-24 NCAA basketball season tips off on Monday. However, non-collegiate players top ESPN’s 2024 NBA Draft prospect rankings.

Six of the top-10 prospects are playing for the G League Ignite or overseas teams. Ron Holland (#1 overall), Matas Buzelis (#6 overall) and Izan Almansa (#9 overall) are all playing for the Ignite this season. They are joined by Australia’s Alex Sarr (#2 overall), France’s Zaccharie Risacher (#5 overall) and Serbia’s Nikola Topic (#10 overall) in the top-10.

The top ranked collegiate players are Isaiah Collier of USC (#3 overall), Justin Edwards of Kentucky (#4 overall) and Connecticut’s Donovan Clingan (#7 overall) and Stephon Castle (#8 overall).

Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards were two of the leaders of a young United States team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Haliburton said that experience was enough that both young guards want to continue to play for Team USA moving forward.

When asked how he felt about American-born superstars saying they wanted spots on Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Haliburton understood. Even though news that those players want to play this coming summer broke before Team USA was even home from the World Cup, Haliburton said that he and Edwards want to play for their country again.

“We all saw when we landed and kind of went our separate ways. And never really talked about it. I just know a lot of that group that was together, especially like me and Ant (Anthony Edwards), us two being two of the younger dudes there, we know that we both want to play for USA moving forward and kind of help, you know, the torch be passed.,” Haliburton said. “And it looks like this upcoming year is going to be, you know, the big guys want to play, and a lot of these guys probably want this to be their last run. But I think that me and Ant, we both feel like we were deserving to be on the team, and we would love to be on the team. I don’t even have to ask him, I already know. But it’s not up for us to decide. We’ve got to do what we can. We know we want to be a part of that – continuing what USA does.”

Steve Kerr intends to step down as the coach of the United States Men’s Basketball team after the 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr told The Athletic that his run leading Team USA would end after next summer’s games.

“No,” Kerr said bluntly when asked if he would coach Team USA after the Paris Games. “To me, it’s a two-year; it’s a cycle. Pop coached a World Cup and the Olympics, now it’s my turn to pass the baton. I think that’s kind of how it should be. Frankly, it’s a huge commitment too. I guess I think it was different the last go-around with Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) and Jerry (Colangelo), when they were really establishing this culture and this system where guys had to commit for a couple years. Made sense for Coach K to stay on. But I think where we are now, one cycle and you move on.”

Many NBA stars have expressed interest in playing for Team USA at the Olympics. Kerr said that roster conversations will start in the coming months.

“That conversation is coming over the next couple of months,” Kerr said. “We’d like to have a roster set sooner rather than later. We don’t have a date, but, you know, obviously, we don’t want to leave guys in limbo.

“You want everybody excited about the prospect (of playing for Team USA); that’s the first sign of, hey, we’re taking this really seriously. A lot of guys are dying to play. Obviously, Grant has to lead the way in terms of building our strategy, and we haven’t made any decisions,” Kerr continued. “It’s highly likely that guys who want to play may not be … whether it’s established guys or guys who have been with us and guys who just played and played really well this last go-around, no matter how you slice it, you can only take 12, so it’s very, very difficult, and it’s a painful process because, you know, you get really attached to guys.

“This last group was so wonderful. In a lot of ways, I wanted to win the gold and just run it back.”