Serbian basketball coach Aleksandar Đorđević didn’t seem to have the attention of Team USA coach Gregg Popovich for long. Đorđević said his team is not intimidated by Team U.S.A. for the FIBA 2019 World Cup.
“Let’s let them [Team USA] play their basketball and we will play ours and if we meet, may God help them,” Đorđević said in an interview for the Serbian national television, per Mozzart Sport.
Popovich, as always, seemed disinterested in a war of words.
“People will talk but it’s usually not something I respond to,” Popovich said when informed of Đorđević’s comments, via the New York Times’ Marc Stein.
This certainly isn’t the Olympic team that Team USA put together in 2016 when LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson, among others, won a gold medal. For the World Cup, Popovich’s likely starting lineup will be comprised of guards Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell, forwards Khris Middleton and P.J. Tucker and center Brook Lopez. They’re a group of stars — but perhaps not superstars.
Serbia is the second-ranked team heading into the tournament behind the United States, according to FIBA.
