USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo says he plans to contact players ''within the next month'' to gauge their interest in playing in the 2012 Olympics.
With rosters due next June and no guarantee of NBA basketball before then, Colangelo wants to get an idea of who wants to be considered for spots in London.
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the holdovers from the 2008 gold medalists have committed to returning, but Colangelo realizes ''circumstances have changed for some of the players who were on the Olympic team.'' So some spots — perhaps half — will come from last year's world champions.
That victory secured a spot in London for the Americans, sparing them having to qualify this summer, potentially without NBA players because of the lockout.
