Still without a team for the 2022-23 basketball season, former Kansas guard Frank Mason III at least knows where he’ll be playing next month.
USA Basketball recently announced that Mason was one of 12 players named to Team USA for the upcoming FIBA AmeriCup tournament in Recife, Brazil. The event features 12 teams from North and South America competing in both group play and a tournament at the end.
Mason, who has international experience dating back to his time with the Jayhawks, will be joined on the team by Zylan Cheatham, Gary Clark Jr., Norris Cole, Will Davis II, Anthony Lamb, Patrick McCaw, Jodie Meeks, Jeremy Pargo, Elijah Pemberton, Craig Sword and Stephen Zimmerman.
The team will be coached by Alex Jensen (Utah Jazz). His assistants will be Mike Williams (Capital City Go-Go of G League) and Steve Wojciechowski (former Marquette coach).
Held every four years, the FIBA AmeriCup tournament was supposed to take place in 2021 but was pushed back a year because of the pandemic. This year’s event — the 11th of its kind — is slated for Sept. 2 through Sept. 11, and the United States squad is the defending champion after going 5-0 in 2017, defeating Argentina in the gold medal game.
Team USA will compete in Group C, which also includes Mexico, Panama and Venezuela. Mason’s first game will come Sept. 2 vs. Mexico.
Mason, college basketball’s national player of the year for the 2016-17 season, was drafted by Sacramento in the second round of the 2017 NBA draft. He played two seasons in Sacramento and also played with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Bucks’ G League team during the 2019-20 season.
Mason, 28, played four games with Orlando during the 2020-21 season and is looking to catch on with another team for the upcoming season. If he does not land a deal in the NBA, it appears as if the 5-foot-10 native of Petersburg, Virginia, has options overseas.
An early August report from EuroBasket.com indicated that AEK Athens, a pro team in Greece, was “targeting” Mason for the 2022-23 season.
