If FIBA had kept up its normal schedule, the world would be preparing for the FIBA World Cup this summer. But the organization wanted to change things up and not fall on the same cycle as the FIFA World Cup. So a new qualifying process was put in place — it is ongoing — and they pushed back the World Cup to 2019 in China.
Qualifying has been taking place all year — the U.S. is coached by Jeff Van Gundy and has used a mixture of G-League players including Rodney Purvis and free agents to qualify.