41 NBA players will be competing for Team USA's 12 Olympic roster spots

Now this is going to be a very difficult task for the coaches of the USA basket ball team to do,but all the same any team they eventually face in the competition is in serious Gobe.

There are  34 current members of the 2014-16 USA Basketball Men's National Team Roster, and that list is about to expand by seven players, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. USA Basketball has extended invites to Harrison Barnes, Trey Burke, Jimmy Butler, Mike Conley, Draymond Green, Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo to join the team for next month's mini camp, per Stein.

That septet is expected in Las Vegas from Aug. 11-13 with existing Team USA members LaMarcus Aldridge, Carmelo Anthony, Bradley Beal, Tyson Chandler, DeMarcus Cousins, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, Kevin Durant, Kenneth Faried, Rudy Gay, Paul George, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Gordon Hayward, Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Kyle Korver, David Lee, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Kevin Love, Paul Millsap, Chandler Parsons, Chris Paul, Mason Plumlee, Derrick Rose, Klay Thompson, John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams.

 

Only seven NBA teams — the Charlotte Hornets, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers — aren't represented. According to Stein, USA Basketball hasn't ruled out adding 2008 and 2012 Olympians to the mix, which would keep the door open for the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and the Heat's Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

 

Because of the sheer number of competitors interested in representing their country, all 41 invitees are reportedly required to attend next month's camp in order to allow USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski every opportunity to best whittle the roster down to 12. And while the injured Durant, George, Irving and Love won't be expected to participate in the non-contact workouts leading up to an all-star game on Aug. 13, their presence on the UNLV campus is required.

It's going to be a very difficult team to pick and get down to 12," Colangelo told ESPN.com. "So we need to have them there because we need to find out where we are with everyone."

During a dominant run to the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, Team USA fielded a 12-man roster of Curry, Cousins, Davis, DeRozan, Drummond, Faried, Gay, Harden, Irving, Plumlee, Rose and Thompson, but absentees like James, Durant and George are expected to make the 2016 roster even tougher to crack.

 

USA Basketball has not lost in a major international competition since the 2006 FIBA World Championships, when Greece upset Team USA in the semifinals. The Americans have since swept the 2008 Olympics, 2010 FIBA World Championships, 2012 Olympics and 2014 FIBA World Cup. And with the current pool of 41 to choose from, let's just say they'll be heavy favorites in Rio next summer, too.

In fact, considering John Wall was among Team USA's first round of cuts last summer, the U.S. could probably field a team of discarded players in 2016 and still compete with any country in the world.