Team USA’s 2023 World Cup Roster: strengths, weaknesses, depth, more

What are the strengths and weaknesses of this USA Team?

Before digging into what the starting lineup should look like for the World Cup games, let’s first look at some of the key strengths and weaknesses of this USA team.

Strengths: This 12-man roster has a ton of versatility at the wing and forward spots. There is also a great blend of offensive-oriented players who can score at different levels of the court, including five players who shoot 39.0%+ from beyond the arc (Brunson, Haliburton, Reaves, Bridges, and Johnson). There is great switchability potential on the defensive side of the ball at the 2-5 spots and some nice rim-protecting options as well. The roster as a whole consists of players who are used to and willing to play either on-ball or off-ball, which should allow for a more fluid offense than in 2019.

Weaknesses: None of the 12 players on this roster have any experience with the senior national team and this group of players contains zero All-NBA players. The point guard depth is lacking with only two listed on the roster (Brunson and Haliburton), so if either suffers an injury, the floor general spot will look very iffy. There is also some concern about how many of these younger players will adapt to the FIBAs style of more physical basketball and which player in general will step up as the number one option when it enters crunch time.