LeBron James will be home for the rest of the playoffs. As did his teammate Anthony Davis. Kevin Durant too. Stephen Curry was standing since the play-in. Kawhi Leonard is one defeat away from joining the ranks of future Hall of Famers.
These NBA Playoffs have been a changing of the guard – the brightest stars who have carried the NBA brand for more than a decade are fading, replaced by rising stars like Anthony Edwards in Minnesota and Tyrese Haliburton in I
Indian, among others.
Don’t worry, that old guard will have its day in the sun again:
At the Paris Olympics.
USA Basketball leaned heavily on that old guard of players making a final push for a gold medal while building their roster: Curry, LeBron, Durant, Leonard and Davis among them.
“I think it’s the right time. I’m at the end of my career. This is probably the last opportunity I have to play,” Curry said of his decision to join Team USA this summer and compete in his first Olympics. “And that made it a lot easier to decide, ‘This makes sense.’ And then I was talking to some other guys who were interested in playing, so you knew this could be a great team.”
“In a few months, I will go to training camp. I have to rest my body for USA B,” LeBron said in his exit interview shortly after the Nuggets eliminated his Lakers.
This will be the oldest U.S. Olympic men’s basketball roster, averaging 30 years and nine months (when the games begin in July). No other US team had an average age over 30.
USA Basketball executive Grant Hill said he was looking for more than veteran experience. He wanted players who were defensively minded, mature and capable of handling the more physical FIBA/international style of basketball.
“The FIBA game is a different game than the NBA game,” Hill said at a press conference introducing the teams. “And then you want players whose games will certainly translate on that stage…
“I think defense, I think experience [were priorities], a collective understanding of how to win, whether on the FIBA stage or even the NBA stage. And so, you know, it’s a puzzle that you want, obviously, talented individuals… who can blend in and fit in, and who can play certain roles that you need. But I think defense was certainly a priority. And defensively, having guys who are capable of blocking, starting several sets with possession of the ball. I think maturity and emotional maturity, and then just a mix of personalities.”
If international experience matters, no U.S. men’s player has more than LeBron. He has two gold medals – 2008 and 2012 – but also knows the pain of not reaching that summit, winning a bronze medal in 2004. In playing this summer, James joins just two other basketball players – Spaniard Rudy Fernandez and US female icon Diana Taurasi. – whose Olympic careers span 20 years.
Then there’s Kevin Durant, who has led Team USA in scoring at the last three Olympic Games and has scored more points in Olympic competition than any other U.S. man. He is just 56 points off Lisa Leslie’s all-time US record and could overtake her in Paris.
Team USA is also bringing in some of the young stars of tomorrow. The Timberwolves’ Edwards, having a playoff run this year, will be on the roster in Paris and will have plenty of run. The Pacers’ Haliburton, whose passing style and fast pace worked well for the U.S. in last summer’s World Cup, will return.
The list also includes players in their prime such as Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo. Jrue Holiday is the ultimate glue guy and fits perfectly on this list too (and was instrumental in the USA winning gold at the last Tokyo Olympics).
The U.S. is stacked, but there’s one main reason this differs from the legendary 1992 USA Dream Team.
“What can I say? That we need more firepower? That we need more talent?” Team USA coach Steve Kerr jokingly told NBC Sports Bay Area. “We obviously have the cream of the crop. These guys are the best players in the country.
“But this isn’t 1992. It may seem like the Dream Team from a stardom and status standpoint.
Other countries also have NBA stars. Serbia won the World Cup last year and will add the best player on the planet, Nikola Jokic, to their squad. France will have a huge front line made up of Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, as well as many other talents from the NBA and the European top flight. Canada beat the US in the World Cup and is loaded with NBA players, starting with MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and he plays alongside RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk, Lu Dort and Purdue star Zach Edey, among others.
These lists are endless – basketball is a global game now.
That’s why Grant Hill felt he needed to turn to a veteran Team USA roster to bring home the gold again.
