It was feared across the basketball world for the last half of the summer and now it is a reality. Team USA lost in the FIBA World Cup, falling 89-79 to France.


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ESPN details the loss by Team USA is the first time the team has lost with players from the NBA on their team since the 2006 failure by the squad to Greece. That run included 58 consecutive wins between both the FIBA tournament and Olympic competition. ESPN details if they won, Team USA would have made the U.S. the first country to win three consecutive World Cups.

France was led by Evan Fournier of the Orlando Magic who had 22 points and Rudy Gobert of France who had 21 points and 16 rebounds. Gobert is the Utah Jazz teammate of Team USA leading scorer Donovan Mitchell who had 29 points.

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“We came here to win gold,” Gobert said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. A lot of people counted us out, but we got the win.”

The best the Gregg Popovich-led Team USA can do now is finish in fifth place, which is enough for a bid in the Olympics but not nearly enough to get any type of medal.