Kevin Love pulls out of Team USA for FIBA World Cup
Kevin Love has opted to withdraw from the 2014 FIBA World Cup, USA Basketball announced on its website Saturday morning:
USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo today announced that Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) has informed USA Basketball that because of his current status he will be unavailable to participate with the USA National Team this summer.
As Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports, Love's "current status" alludes to "the uncertainty of surrounding his status with [the] Wolves."
In case you've been living under a rock, Love, with one year left on his contract with Minnesota, has asked to be traded, and has been aggressively pursued by a spate of suitors this offseason, notably the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Golden State Warriors.
Krawczynski adds that Love feels he "can't risk injury now," with his career at such an ostensibly crucial crossroads, though he claims to be "truly remorseful" about missing out.
Love is the sixth American player to voluntarily withdraw from consideration for the World Cup team, joining Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Iguodala, Kawhi Leonard, and Blake Griffin.
"The fact is we can only look to the players we have available," Jerry Colangelo said. "Our job is to get the job done with our very, very deep roster, and we’re anxious to get things started."
Colangelo has already started thinking of ways to fill the team's power forward void, with Love, Aldridge, and Griffin out of the picutre.
Jerry Colangelo tells Yahoo he sees Chandler Parsons and Paul George as possible stretch four forwards internationally.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 26, 2014
"You can’t just sit around and cry in your beer about who you don’t have," he told ESPN's Marc Stein. "You look at what you do have and you say, 'We’re going to get the job done.' We feel very confident about our opportunity. We’re ready for it."