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It was expected, but Andre Drummond cleared the first hurdle to making the USA Basketball roster for the FIBA World Cup of Basketball tournament in Spain, which tips Aug. 30.
After losing Paul George to a devastating leg injury on Friday, Team USA cut three more players on Monday -- Washington Wizards guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, and Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap -- trimming its roster to 16 players. There will be four more cuts before the tournament starts.
Despite not playing as well as we're used to seeing him play in the showcase scrimmage on Friday, I still feel like Drummond has to be a favorite to edge out DeMarcus Cousins or Mason Plumlee for one of the remaining big man spots behind Anthony Davis, who is all but a certainty to make it.
After seeing what happened to George, part of me hopes Drummond doesn't make it so he can get back to normal training for Pistons basketball where he can use the snub as further motivation. But that's not what Drummond wants, and I can't deny how cool it would be to see Drummond on Team USA, kicking ass and blocking basketballs for America.
Team USA continues its training for the competition in Chicago on Aug. 13.