USA Basketball's Board of Directors approved Thursday, July 16, the appointment of Mark Daigneault (Oklahoma City Thunder), J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit Pistons) and Mark Few (Gonzaga) as assistant coaches on Erik Spoelstra's staff for the 2027 Basketball World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault's only previous USA Basketball experience was a couple of stints as a video coordinator for younger-division teams more than a decade ago. Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff has never been part of the national program — both are making their debut at the highest levels of international basketball.
"It's the highest calling you can have as a basketball coach and it was such an honor to serve with USA Basketball during the last cycle," said Few, who will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame next month. "To be asked to return is another tremendous honor. I'm humbled, I'm honored and I'm excited to get back to work alongside Coach Spoelstra and an outstanding staff."
Few, the longtime Gonzaga coach and soon-to-be Hall of Famer, previously served as an assistant alongside Spoelstra during the previous Olympic cycle under former head coach Steve Kerr, helping the U.S. win its fifth consecutive gold medal in Paris 2024.
"We're really excited about it," said Spoelstra, who will serve as U.S. head coach for the first time. "We wanted to try to zero in on this a little bit earlier in the process so we can start to get more organized and start to have some level of communication and continuity. The earlier the better, so I'm really excited about that."
The nominations were announced by USA Basketball Men's National Team managing director Grant Hill. "This is a huge step in terms of putting together the leadership team," Hill said. "With Mark, with J.B. and with Mark Few, we've got talented people who happen to be good people as well. And so, I'm beyond thrilled."
Daigneault, who worked with U.S. teams that won the U19 World Cup in 2013 and the U18 FIBA Americas crown in 2014, said: "I can't even conceptualize what it'll feel like because I've never been to an Olympics. For everybody involved, I think it's a very humbling and overwhelming experience. I'm sure it's going to be the same for me."
Bickerstaff — a soccer dad — took note this summer of how the nation came together in support of the U.S. national team during the World Cup. "It just means the world to me," he said. "Growing up, you knew you always wanted to be a part of it in some way or form — to be able to say that you got to fight for a gold medal."
Hill will now continue toward assembling a roster for next year's World Cup in Qatar, the first major test of the new Olympic cycle for U.S. men's basketball.
Sources
- AP News: [Daigneault, Bickerstaff, Few confirmed as USA Basketball assistant coaches](https://apnews.com/article/usa-basketball-olympics-daigneault-bickerstaff-few-c9f355a804262175c2f155f6db1ca342)
