By Dionysis Aravantinos / @AravantinosDA
BEIJING – After two weeks of extremely competitive basketball, and a lot of memorable moments, the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was finished with Spain capturing the gold medal. Many great players participated in the event, including 55 NBAers. Eurohoops presents the ten players who shined in the competition, starting from number ten.
#10: Donovan Mitchell / Team USA
Stats: 13.1 PPG (46.6 FG%), 5.0 APG, 4.3 RPG
Team’s position: 7th
Team USA’s run in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China ended quickly with a quarter-final loss to France in Dongguan. That loss was followed by yet another loss to Serbia in the 5-8 ranked games. Eventually, Gregg Popovich’s team was ranked seventh in the World Cup, after finishing the tournament with a win over Poland. Donovan Mitchell was Team USA’s best player, and leader on and off the court. The 23-year old guard was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13.1 points per game, while he also handed out 5.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
His best game even came against France in the quarter-finals, where he exploded for 29 points and six rebounds. Unfortunately for the Americans, none of his teammates helped him down the stretch, and eventually they got knocked out by Rudy Gobert and France. Finally, he ended his first World Cup appearance with a double-double (16 points / 10 assists) in USA’s final game vs. Poland.