Austin Reaves could well have been on Germany’s FIBA team and contributed to their unbeaten run, but instead he’s playing for Team USA.
USA will attempt to bring the Germany’s dream run to an end on Friday in the FIBA World Cup semi-finals.
The Lakers guard admitted he was close to playing for the German side if Steve Kerr’s USA team hadn’t offered him a place in their side.
His former LA teammate Dennis Schroder played a big role in trying to convince the 25-year-old to represent.
“Dennis was obviously all year asking me the possibility of me playing for the German team in the future and I was open to it,” Reaves said at Team USA practice on Thursday. “Obviously, I told him straight up that I wasn’t going to play this summer because I wanted to rest and we had a long run…
“Then the US opportunity presented itself and he was the first person I texted and I said that I got this opportunity and I can’t say no to it. I just wanted to let you know before it all broke and obviously he was super supportive like he said congrats and all that stuff so if this didn’t present itself, it was probably something that might happen in the future.”
We saw former USA representative Eric Gordon switch allegiances to play for the Bahamas just recently, which helped the country on their quest to a maiden Olympics berth for basketball.
So it is certainly possible that Reaves could play for Germany “in the future”, as he says.
The shooting guard is from Arkansas, so pretzels and giant beers aren’t exactly second nature to him.
“My grandma is from there,” Reaves told reporters when asked what is the most German thing about him. “My brother plays over there…you know I got those ties, but we’re here.”
Watch USA v Germany at 8:40 a.m. ET on ESPN2 on Friday, or to find out how to watch the game in your country or territory, check the FIBA website.