5 Players the Spurs should pursue with Team USA ties to Pop

As much as any player to ever wear the stars and stripes, Gregg Popovich understands how much it means to represent the United States in international competition. It's why he called coaching Team USA to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics one of the "best feelings" he's ever had in basketball. That's a heavy statement from any coach, but it's especially significant given everything Pop has accomplished throughout his storied career.

From post-game comments to video clips of Pop messing around with players, it's clear how much he enjoyed the experience of coaching Team USA. And while I don't think he would directly try to leverage the relationships he made during his tenure to recruit players to San Antonio it's certainly reasonable to think that some of the players on that team might be swayed to sign with the Spurs if they really enjoyed their time being coached by Pop.

After drafting Victor Wembanyama the Spurs had a relatively quiet offseason. They made some minor moves such as re-signing Tre Jones and trading for Cedi Osman but nothing significant to show that they're making a push to contend for championships in the immediate future.

But make no mistake, that time is coming. Once Wembanyama gets his feet under him in the NBA look for San Antonio to round out the roster with a few other impactful players who can take San Antonio from a plucky underdog to a legitimate title contender.

Team USA is made up of the absolute best of the best. What could be a better place to look for impact players than the very roster that holds some of the best in the world under one flag? If the Spurs can leverage Pop's Team USA ties to recruit one of these players they'll have the makings of a real contender very soon.