On March 12, after winning the Independent School League Player of the Year Award, junior Marc Taylor was approached by Team USA’s Mike Krzyzewski and offered a spot on the team’s injured reserve along with fellow junior Nicky Kupferberg. After suffering season-ending achilles tendon and knee injuries, respectively, Kupferberg and Taylor will be joining the national team this summer. Current NBA superstars Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, James Harden, and Kevin Durant will also be starting on the team.

“I’m really excited to have Marc and Nicky join us on the road,” Coach Krzyzewski said. “I’m happy to finally have these guys join our team, as our players can really learn a thing or two from their expertise.”

When asked what he is especially looking forward to in Brazil, Kupferberg said that he’s “heard about how fire the churros in Rio are,” and that he is “really looking forward to eating a half-dozen of them.”

Although Taylor has added some serious hardware to his trophy case after being the 2016 ISL Player of the Year, he can’t wait to limp around with some of his heroes like NBA superstars LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. “Hopefully I can block one or two of them with my crutches,” Taylor said. “But in all seriousness, I’m very excited to hang out with these guys for a few weeks and get to know them a little bit. I’m hoping LeBron and I can become close friends through this experience.”

After scoring an impressive 36 points while securing 12 rebounds last Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls, James said in a postgame interview that he was “excited to finally be able to meet Taylor in person.” James also said that he “wanted to meet the man whom my kids work to become day-in and day-out.”