The USA Basketball men’s national team earned a spot in the 2019 FIBA World Cup last weekend. That said, they had to do so under a new format.
In the past, winning an Olympic gold medal would automatically qualify the USA for the next World Cup. But now, all teams have to play a series of qualifying games within their continents. So the USA won the Gold Medal in the 2016 Olympics, but they still had to play a series of qualifiers to get their World Cup spot.
Long story short, but the United States made it in qualifiers with two games left to spare!