Marcus Smart will be representing his country this summer — sort of.
The Boston Celtics rookie was among the invitees to the USA Basketball Select Team that will train in Las Vegas, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday, citing sources. Smart will reportedly join fellow 2014 NBA draftee Doug McDermott and second-year players Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris in the squad.
The select team’s primary role is to work out with the U.S. national team that will compete in the World Cup of Basketball in Spain. That star-studded roster of 19 NBA players includes Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin and others.
The national team roster will eventually be pared down to 12 players, which won’t include Smart and the other select team members. Inclusion on the select team could give Smart a foot in the door to future national-team squads, however, if he performs at the NBA level.
