Former Kentucky basketball guard Rajon Rondo is one step closer to earning one of the highest honors in professional basketball — being named to Team USA.

Rondo is one of 15 finalists to make the 12-man roster for the 2010 USA World Championship Team, which must submit its final roster by Aug. 26, according to an ESPN report, after a four-day minicamp in Las Vegas.

The Boston Celtic and former UK point guard eluded Wednesday’s cuts and is now one of six guards left on the roster. Conventional wisdom suggests that number will be cut down to five for the final cuts.

If Rondo can make the team, it will be the first Kentucky player to make Team USA since Tayshaun Prince and the gold-medal winning 2008 Olympics “Redeem Team.”