Thursday could be decision day for Mason Plumlee

Marc Stein reports that Team USA may try to get down to 12 or 13 players by the time the team boards a flight from New York to Spain and the FIBA World Cup on Saturday... and it remains uncertain whether Mason Plumlee will make the final cut.

DeMarcus Cousins, Mason Plumlee and Andre Drummond are competing for only one guaranteed spot as backup center, though it's possible two of them could be on the plane to Spain.

Stein reports on how Jerry Colangelo seemed uncertain on the timing of the cuts, with some cuts likely Thursday or Friday.

Colangelo told ESPN.com that one scenario under consideration by USA Basketball officials is reducing the current 16-man roster to 12 or 13 players after Wednesday night's exhibition game against the Dominican Republic at Madison Square Garden.

"We've said we wanted to wait through the end of the week in New York before we made cutbacks," Colangelo said Monday, "but that could still change.

Team USA doesn't have to get down to 12 players until August 29, the day before the World Cup begins across Spain.

Earlier in the day, the Detroit Free Press reported that Drummond was likely to be cut, noting that Drummond rang up a DNP-CD on Sunday vs. Brazil, while Plumlee played well in his 15 minutes on the court.

Chris Sheridan, who has covered Team USA and FIBA basketball for more than a decade tweeted that Plumlee was a lock, adding in a report, "