FORMER Maryborough and Bendigo Braves junior Matthew Dellavedova has been confirmed in a 17-man Australian Boomers squad to play a pair of matches each against the United States and Canada in Australia in August.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers guard is one of nine current NBA stars in the squad, which will play the USA at Marvel Stadium on August 22 and 24, and Canada in Perth on August 16 and 17.
They are Dellavedova, Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers), Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs), Joe Ingles (Utah Jazz), Andrew Bogut (Golden State Warriors), Aron Baynes (Boston Celtics), Jonah Bolden (Philadelphia 76ers), Deng Adel (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Mitch Creek (Minnesota Timberwolves).
The injured Dante Exum (Utah Jazz) was unavailable along with fellow NBA players Thon Maker (Detroit Pistons) and Ryan Broekhoff (Dallas Mavericks).
The squad will form the base for the final team for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China, between August 31 and September 15,
It includes seven of the players, who led the Boomers to a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"I always have a mixture of emotions when a squad is announced," said Boomers head coach Andrej Lemanis.
"No doubt, we have the opportunity to put a great team on the floor and that's exciting. Working with the best players in the country is such an honour and privilege - I feel extremely blessed to again have this opportunity.
"However, the depth of talent in Australian basketball means that some tough decisions are made at this point and some very good players miss out. It is especially true on this occasion given the heavy lifting done by so many NBL based players during the World Cup qualification system.
"Having developed a bond with each and every player that has been part of the team over the past two years, it is with a heavy heart that every player who represented Australia in the qualification process will not be given the opportunity to attend camp.
"The short preparation time we have means that we had to limit the number of players attending camp so that we can use the camp for team development, not just selection."
The Boomers squad will assemble in Melbourne in early August for the selection camp before heading to Perth and returning to Melbourne for their warm-up games.
The full squad is: Deng Adel, Aron Baynes, Todd Blanchfield, Andrew Bogut, Jonah Bolden, Mitch Creek, Matthew Dellavedova, Cameron Gliddon, Chris Goulding, Joe Ingles, Nicholas Kay, Jock Landale, Mitch McCarron, Patty Mills, Brock Motum, Ben Simmons, Nathan Sobey.
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