FIBA World Cup: Kyle Lowry withdraws from Team USA after not being cleared for 'full basketball activities'

Alexis Mansanarez

FIBA World Cup: Kyle Lowry withdraws from Team USA after not being cleared for 'full basketball activities' image

Kyle Lowry will not be competing in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

The Raptors guard announced he was withdrawing from Team USA on Monday, citing health reasons.

Lowry had surgery on his right thumb in July. He made the trip to training camp despite having a fear the injury wouldn’t allow him to play, a report from ESPN noted.

He was a member of the 2016 gold-medal team and still hopes to represent the U.S. on the 2020 Olympic team, ESPN added.

"This is a status update message regarding the 2019 Fiba World Cup," he wrote, in part, in a note posted on Instagram. "I was hoping be cleared and ready for the tournament but I was not cleared for full basketball activities. ...

"At the end of the day I believe the men that are playing will be great and will win the gold for our country."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Go USAB!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸

A post shared by Kyle Lowry (@kyle_lowry7) on

Lowry was one of the 17 finalists to make the roster for the tournament, which will run from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15.

The news of his departure comes just a day after Marvin Bagley III also withdrew.

There are now 15 players for the 12 open roster spots.

Coach Gregg Popovich has had to deal with the dwindling numbers.

"All I care about is who's here," Popovich said at the first day of training camp last week. "I've got a fine group of guys and we're going to get the best possible team we can. ... This is the most satisfying form of putting a bunch of guys together and them have empathy and love for each other to form the kind of team they're going to have to beat some really good European teams."

Lowry is the latest in a long list of players — including Bradley Beal, James Harden, Anthony Davis, CJ McCollum, Eric Gordon, Tobias Harris, Andre Drummond, Montrezl Harrell and Bagley — who pulled their name out of consideration for the world cup.

 

Alexis Mansanarez