Team USA enters the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament at this month’s Paris Olympics as the overwhelming favorite to win the gold medal.
Most of the country’s biggest stars are suiting up for the Red, White, and Blue at this year’s quadrennial meet led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry. With the cast of characters suiting up for this 2024 team, many have already likened them to their famous predecessors, the iconic 1992 Dream Team and 2008 Redeem Team.
This 2024 team boasts of a deep roster where each player, save for injury replacement Derrick White, has already made multiple NBA All-Star appearances. The Dream Team was identical in this aspect heading into the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as Christian Laettner, who had yet to make his NBA debut at that point in time, was their only member without multiple NBA All-Star nods.
What makes this year’s team unique is that they are well-represented in terms of different age groups.
James, a member of the deep 2003 NBA Draft, is the team’s elder statesman by a mile at 39 years old. It is easy to overlook that he is actually quite older than the 35-year-old Durant who was drafted in 2007 which was a few months after James made his NBA Finals debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The three-time Olympian James has also made it clear that these Olympics will be his last one, even if the 2028 games will be held in his current city of residence, Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Curry and Jrue Holiday were both members of the 2009 NBA Draft. The majority of this team entered the NBA during the 2010s, with Anthony Davis first up in 2012, Joel Embiid next in 2014, and Devin Booker the following year. The 2017 NBA Draft class is the most well-represented on this team as the trio of Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, and Derrick White were all selected that year.
The two youngest players on the team, the 22-year-old Anthony Edwards and the 24-year-old Tyrese Haliburton, were the most recent draftees among this group as they came into the league in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Coincidentally, these two players are also the only two holdovers from last year’s FIBA World Cup team that finished fourth.
It is worth highlighting that Edwards is the same age as Laettner was when he was part of the Dream Team. Both players are the youngest on their respective Olympic teams, though the stark difference is that Edwards is already a two-time NBA All-Star and All-NBA Team member while Laettner had yet to begin his professional career.
The roster that USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill and head coach Steve Kerr have put together is quite an impressive one. This looks like a unit that, at least on paper, can play practically any style and what each player brings to the table is highlighted in the section below.
LeBron James, Forward, 39 years old, Los Angeles Lakers
James brings a wealth of experience with him to these Olympics as a two-time gold medalist and the sole remaining member of the 2008 team. He will be looked upon for leadership on and off the court which will be crucial against a field that is as strong as it has ever been.
On the court, he remains “versatility incarnate” and the wide range of his talents will be on full display with this team where he could potentially play all positions from point guard to center depending on the situation.
Kevin Durant, Forward, 35 years old, Phoenix Suns
Durant is already Team USA’s all-time leader for career points and was also the clear-cut best player during the previous Olympic games held in Tokyo last 2021. The 14-time NBA All-Star will not have to carry as heavy a load this time around, though it would not be a surprise if he winds up leading this team in scoring and further pads his lead as the highest scoring male American basketball player in Olympics history.
The deadly mix of shooting and length that he brings as this team’s hypothetical starting power forward makes them close to impossible to guard and the only thing that might slow him down is his injured calf.
Stephen Curry, Guard, 36 years old, Golden State Warriors
The four-time NBA champion is no stranger to Team USA, having won gold with the team in the 2010 and 2014 editions of the FIBA World Cup. However, these are his first ever Olympics and this only makes it more likely that the 36-year-old guard is going to do something special over this next month.
Curry remains the best shooter on the planet today and the thought of his gravity opening up the floor for this group full of prolific scorers is as close as it gets to a nightmare for opposing teams.
Jrue Holiday, Guard, 34 years old, Boston Celtics
The starting point guard of the reigning NBA champion Celtics also suited up during the previous Olympics and is expected to bring his usual brand of defensive intensity and on-court stability. When the going gets tough, Holiday will most likely be on the floor and he is also going to be called upon to defend opposing teams’ best guards on a nightly basis.
Holiday might not have as flashy a resume as the players mentioned ahead of him in this piece, but he is just as important as them in this team’s quest to win the gold medal.
Anthony Davis, Center, 31 years old, Los Angeles Lakers
There is an argument to be made that Davis is the most versatile two-way big man to ever play the game. On this team though, he will not be asked to do much beyond finishing around the basket on the offensive end and protecting the rim on defense. This makes him even more lethal as he is essentially going to be the most overqualified back-up center in this whole tournament.
Furthermore, it will be interesting to see how often Kerr decides to deploy line-ups with two big men as Davis, Embiid, and Adebayo are all skillful enough to play alongside one another.
Joel Embiid, Center, 30 years old, Philadelphia 76ers
Embiid might be the biggest question mark on this team as it remains to be seen how the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player can adjust to the international style of play. He is unlikely to get even half of the 11.6 free throw attempts per game that he took last season in the NBA, though his soft touch and above-average perimeter shooting ability should allow him to remain an effective option for this team.
The biggest impact that Embiid can have on this team is on the defensive end, particularly when Team USA faces its Group C rival Serbia who will be bannered by his longtime nemesis Nikola Jokic.
Derrick White, Guard, 30 years old, Boston Celtics
White is the latest addition to this team as the injury replacement for Kawhi Leonard. Though there is some controversy surrounding his selection over his teammate and 2024 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jaylen Brown, that should not discredit the merit of White’s inclusion on this team.
The 6’4 White is an above-average three-point shooter and playmaker while he has also become one of the better, if not the best, shot-blocking guards in basketball today. He is as perfect as it gets with regards to being a role player which is something that is particularly necessary on a team such as this one that features four different players who have been crowned the NBA Scoring Champion in James, Durant, Curry, and Embiid.
Devin Booker, Guard, 27 years old, Phoenix Suns
The Tokyo Olympics were one to forget for Booker who averaged just 9.3 points per game as the team’s starting small forward. This year, he is likely to come off the bench, but this is not entirely a role that he is unfamiliar with as he was a sixth man in his lone collegiate season with Kentucky.
Nonetheless, the floor spacing that Booker provides is invaluable to this team and his elite scoring ability gives Kerr a top tier “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” player that he can call upon to carry this team. When it is all said and done, it would not come as a surprise if Booker winds up single-handedly carrying Team USA to at least one victory wherein his ability to score in bunches bails them out from imminent defeat.
Bam Adebayo, Center, 26 years old, Miami Heat
Adebayo is another holdover from the previous Olympic team where he was their starting center. Like Booker, he is expected to move to the reserve unit for the Paris games where he will anchor a potent second unit that might wind up becoming this team’s biggest strength.
The all-around skillset of the 6’9 Adebayo, who is excellent with or without the ball, is amplified on a team that is as talented as this one. International rules tend to favor teams that can successfully deploy two big men and Adebayo might just be the person that holds the key for Team USA to unlock this.
Jayson Tatum, Forward, 26 years old, Boston Celtics
The fifth and final remaining player from the Tokyo Olympic group is fresh off his first-ever NBA championship and is all set to reprise his role as Team USA’s top reserve weapon. Tatum has gained considerable muscle in the three years since the last Olympics which may allow him to play as a full-time power forward and even as an occasional center for this team.
Having a player like Tatum coming off the bench highlights the depth of this roster and just like in Tokyo, he should have no problem dominating against opposing second units throughout the upcoming Olympics.
Tyrese Haliburton, Guard, 24 years old, Indiana Pacers
On a team filled with some of the premier scorers in the planet today, the presence of a playmaker like Haliburton is of utmost importance. This should be a completely different experience for him compared with the FIBA World Cup. Instead of lining up alongside Austin Reaves, Paolo Banchero, and Josh Hart, he will be running up and down the court next to Davis, Tatum, and Booker.
Haliburton averaged 10.9 assists in 32.2 minutes per game last season with the Indiana Pacers and might be able to reach that number with Team USA in much less minutes given all of the talent around him.
Anthony Edwards, Guard, 22 years old, Minnesota Timberwolves
The self-proclaimed number one option of this team is, unsurprisingly, also the youngest player. The two-time NBA All-Star’s claim does have some merit though and the way this situation plays out will be a crucial storyline to follow.
Last year, Edwards similarly kicked off Team USA’s exhibition schedule before the FIBA World Cup as a reserve, but he eventually proved to be too good to be left off their starting line-up and eventually emerged as their best player. It will be more difficult for him to do the same this year given all of the personalities around him, yet he has proven time after time over his brief career that he should never be underestimated.
Edwards could wind up becoming this team’s leading scorer regardless of whether he starts or not and this tournament might wind up becoming his coming out party as one of the best players in the world today.
***
This year’s team has the personnel needed to become a historic one, but before they can be considered peers of the 1992 and 2008 groups, they must first take care of business in Paris–and find a catchy nickname for themselves too while they’re at it.
The rest of the world has only continued to get better which means that the road to the gold medal will be far from an easy one for Team USA.
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Abby Balistreri