Metta World Peace Claims He Was Denied Tryout By Team USA Over “Reputation”

The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup is only in just a few weeks and as of right now, Team USA is finalizing its roster that will be headed to China to play against some of the best players in the world. Most of the top tier players in the NBA have dropped out which has allowed some role players to get pretty big opportunities. A few weeks ago, we reported how Carmelo Anthony asked about trying out for the team but was ultimately denied as the team wanted to go in a younger direction. It turns out former NBA star Metta World Peace was also denied a tryout and today, he took to Twitter to explain why he thinks that was the case.

“Mostly because of my reputation. I definitely deserved a tryout. I actually called myself and never got a return phone call,” Metta World Peace explained. “My agent gave me the message. All good.”

Seeing the player formerly known as Ron Artest suit up for Team USA would have been a bizarre sight, especially since he plays in the Big3 now. Metta hasn’t exactly been playing with top tier talent as of late and he probably wouldn’t have fit in very well on this particular roster.

Either way, it’s interesting to see him be denied to coldly, especially since he was a pretty good player during his prime.