Team USA will begin its defense of the World Basketball Championship and also its claim to be the best basketball country in the world. Kevin Durant, the NBA Most Valuable Player will lead the team along with Kevin Love.

From the USA Basketball website:

"USA Basketball Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo announced this summer's USA Basketball Men's National Team, from which the 2014 World Cup Team will be selected.

Previous USA National Team members to participate in the 2014 Las Vegas training camp include: Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards); DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans); Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets); Paul George (Indiana Pacers); Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers); James Harden (Houston Rockets); Gordon Hayward(Utah Jazz); Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kyle Korver (Atlanta Hawks); Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Derrick Rose(Chicago Bulls); and Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors).

New additions to the training camp are DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors) and Chandler Parsons (Dallas Mavericks).

Some of the big names have begged off either due to injury or personal reasons (including free agency). The latest to beg off was Russell Westbrook. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony--the top free agents, also chose not to participate.

This 19 man roster will be trimmed down to the final 12-man line up along with three reserves.

Colangelo's further statements:

"First off, I'm very pleased about the 19 players who are now confirmed to participate in the 2014 USA National Team training camp in Las Vegas. This group possesses outstanding individual talents, while also boasting of excellent versatility and varying amounts of USA Basketball experience. I am also pleased about the addition of DeMar DeRozan and Chandler Parsons to the USA National Team and to the 2014 training camp. Both played well in last summer's USA Basketball National Team mini-camp and went on to record outstanding NBA seasons.

"The Las Vegas training camp will be the start of our preparations for the World Cup, so this is a critical time for putting in place the foundation required for this USA Basketball team to be successful like its recent predecessors. This USA team will have a special opportunity to become the first USA team to repeat as world champions."