Clippers Guard Landry Shamet Invited to Join Team USA Select Team in Vegas

Amidst all the free agent hullabaloo, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN dropped a quiet Clippers-related nugget this morning: young guard Landry Shamet will join Team USA in Vegas as part of the “Select Team”. The Select Team is a group of 10, up-and-coming young players who will practice with and scrimmage against the Team USA regulars, and can even make the full team if they stand out. For example, in 2012, before he played an NBA game, Anthony Davis jumped from the Select Team to the regular team and helped Team USA win gold at the Olympics.

Landry is unlikely to make a similar leap — this Team USA squad is far too loaded at guard, with James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, Kemba Walker, Bradley Beal, and more all set to partake in training camp. Still, Landry will get to bond with other young, rising stars in the NBA, and will be able to pick up tips from some of the best basketball players in the world. Even if his participation ends when the training camp is over, this should also give him a leg up into fully entering the Team USA pool, perhaps as soon as the 2020 Olympics.

This is a fantastic indicator of how highly Landry Shamet is regarded in NBA circles. Generally, only the best of the best are involved in Team USA (though popularity can be a factor cough Kyle Kuzma cough), and Shamet’s enrollment on the Select Team means some very bright basketball minds view him as a future star. Congrats to Sham, and hopefully he is able to enjoy himself and learn a great deal in his time in Vegas.