Baron Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (August 5, 2002) -- USA Basketball announced today that New Orleans Hornets All-Star guard Baron Davis had been named to the 2002 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team replacing Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets) who withdrew because of a injury suffered recently. Davis' selection was made by the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Committee.

The 2002 FIBA World Basketball Championship for Men is being held in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 29- September 8, 2002, the U.S. team opens its training August 16 in San Francisco, California..

"This is a great honor, its unfortunate what happen to Jason Kidd, he's a great point guard. But I'll do my part to make everyone happy. I'm happy to be a part of USA Basketball, to be playing with the guys on the team and I'm looking forward to winning the gold medal," commented Davis, who has played on two previous USA Basketball teams. "It's an honor and a privilege to wear that USA flag on your chest and to be part of this team that is representing the United States. I appreciate having the opportunity and I'm going to go out and represent my country to the best of my abilities."

"It's unfortunate that Jason Kidd won't be a part of the 2002 USA Basketball World Championship Team. He has been a great player for USA Basketball over the years and will be sorely missed," said Stu Jackson, chair of the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Committee. "We are very fortunate to have a quality replacement in Baron Davis who has international basketball experience as a part of the 2001 Goodwill Games team that played in Brisbane, Australia last year. Baron is a very talented point guard that is a strong defender who has speed, quickness and is very capable at running the offense along with Andre Miller."

Kidd was injured recently during some pre-season conditioning, and while he would not be fully recovered in time for the USA World Championship Team's training, he is expected to be back 100 percent by the start of the NBA regular season.

Davis recently completed his third NBA season and averaged in 2001-02 career bests of 18.1 ppg. (32nd highest in the NBA), 8.5 assists (4th highest in the NBA) and 3.1 steals (4th highest in the NBA). Helping lead Charlotte to a 44-32 regular season record and a second place finish in the Central Division, in Charlotte's nine playoff games in 2002, Davis upped his scoring to 22.6 ppg. (13th highest in NBA Playoffs), while adding 7.9 apg. (4th highest in the NBA Playoffs) and a playoff leading 3.6 spg. as the Hornets advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight year.

Making his first NBA All-Star Game appearance in 2002, Davis became the youngest member of the Hornets ever to make the All-Star team at 22-years-old and led the Eastern Conference with five assists in 12 minutes of play.

Selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round as the third overall choice in the 1999 NBA Draft, Davis has not missed a game in his three NBA seasons. His 246 consecutive games is the fifth-longest consecutive games played streak in the NBA. As a rookie in 1999-2000, he smashed the Charlotte rookie franchise record for most assists in a season with 598 and averaged 5.9 points, 3.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 18.6 minutes in 82 games off the bench. Improving his statistics in every offensive category from his rookie season, Davis in 2000-01 averaged 13.8 ppg., led Charlotte and ranked 11th in the NBA in assists with 7.3 per game, and finished fifth in the NBA in steals snatching 2.1 a game.

Attending UCLA for two seasons (1997-98 to 1998-99), Davis assisted the Bruins to a 48-16 overall record and currently ranks as the seventh all-time career leader for 3-point field goals attempted (258), ninth for 3-point field goals made (83) and is ninth in steals (145). Davis as a sophomore led the Bruins in scoring averaging 15.9 points per contest, the ninth highest scoring average ever by a UCLA sophomore, and also led team in assists (5.1 apg.) and steals (2.5 spg.), and ranked fourth in rebounding (3.7 rpg.). Capping his sophomore season by earning 1999 All-America third team honors from The Associated Press, he also garnered All-Pacific-10 Conference first team honors and was named UCLA's MVP. As a freshman he averaged 11.7 ppg., the fifth most ever by a UCLA freshman, and again led the team in assists (5.0 apg.) and steals (2.4 spg.). His 77 steals ranks as the second most in UCLA history. Davis capped his first season by claiming Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors and was voted UCLA's Most Valuable Freshman Player.

Davis also boasts of prior USA Basketball experience. In 2001 Davis played for his second USA Basketball team after being selected for the 2001 Goodwill Games which was comprised of top young NBA talent. Starting all five games, Davis helped the United States bring home the gold medal averaging 10.6 points (fifth highest on the USA team) and a team leading 6.6 assists and 2.8 steals a game. Davis recorded 11 points in the USA's 106-98 overtime victory over Brazil in the Goodwill Games semifinals, and will forever be remembered for his defensive stand at the end of regulation that prevented Brazil's Dementrius Ferraciu from getting a potential game winning shot off.

Davis received his start in USA Basketball in 1997 when he was selected as a member for the 1997 USA Basketball Hoop Summit Team and he registered in 22 minutes of action nine points (4-7 FGs), a team best five assists, one block and one steal in the USA's 97-90 victory over an International Select Team.

The 12-member USA World Championship Team also includes NBA standouts: Ray Allen (Milwaukee Bucks); Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers); Antonio Davis (Toronto Raptors); Michael Finley (Dallas Mavericks); Raef LaFrentz (Dallas Mavericks); Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns); Andre Miller (Los Angeles Clippers); Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers); Jermaine O'Neal (Indiana Pacers); Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics) and Ben Wallace (Detroit Pistons). University of Kansas senior forward Nick Collison and Duke University All-American guard Jay Williams have been named alternates and will train with the U.S. squad.

Milwaukee Bucks head mentor George Karl is head coach of USA Basketball's 2002 World Championship Team, and serving as assistant coaches are San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, Stanford University (Calif.) head mentor Mike Montgomery and University of Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson.

The 2002 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team opens its pre-World Championship training on Friday, Aug. 16 in San Francisco, Calif., and the U.S. team will spend 13 days leading up to the Aug. 29-Sept. 8 FIBA World Basketball Championship For Men training in Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.; Portland, Ore., and Indianapolis, Ind. The USA squad will also play a pair of exhibition games during its training, meeting the Chinese World Championship Team at The Arena in Oakland on Thursday, Aug. 22 ( 7 p.m. PDT) and the German World Championship Team at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland on Sunday, Aug. 25 (7 p.m. PDT).

The United States men open play in the FIBA World Championship on Thursday, Aug. 29 against Algeria (8 p.m. - all times listed are Indianapolis local times) in a game televised by Turner. The USA-Germany contest on Friday, Aug. 30 (7 p.m.) will be televised by ESPN2, and Turner will televise the USA's final preliminary round game against China on Saturday, Aug. 31 (8 p.m.). All three of the USA's preliminary round games will be played at the RCA Dome.

Following a day off (Sept. 1), second round play will be conducted Sept. 2-4. If the United States finishes in the top three of its preliminary round group and advances to the second round, then the USA game on Monday, Sept. 2 (8 p.m.) against an opponent TBD will be televised by Turner. ESPN2 will broadcast live the USA's final two second round games on Tuesday, Sept. 3 (8 p.m.) and Wednesday, Sept. 4 (7 p.m.). All three of the USA's second round game are slated to be played in Conseco Fieldhouse.

If the USA finishes among the top four teams in the second round and advances to the medal round quarterfinals, then the USA's quarterfinals match up on Thursday, Sept. 5 ( 8 p.m.) will be televised live by Turner.

The medal round semifinals action is slated for Saturday, Sept. 7 (1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.), and the gold medal (3:00 p.m.) and bronze medal games (12:30 p.m.) are scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 8. NBC will televise the 3:30 p.m. semifinals game on Sept. 7 and the Sept. 8 gold medal game.