USA Basketball Men’s National Team 2024

August 23, 2024

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Twelve circular neon orange portals appear from the air. Citrus hues brilliantly fly off the rims of the spheres, spinning clockwise as the scenes of various US cities expand ever wider. Horns playing in the background build to a crescendo. You’ve probably seen this scene before, in a movie theater in 2019. Only this is not a movie. These are the greatest shots of the United States of America.

While USA Basketball reps flew around the country introducing every player on the 2024 men’s national team in their USA themes, X users flooded the timeline with the only comparison that could make any discernible sense: A 20-second clip. Avengers: end game.

The film climaxes with the entirety of the Avengers team traveling through space to join Captain America for the final stand against Thanos. One by one, the galaxy’s greatest heroes stand shoulder to shoulder. This is a perfect parallel for this year’s team. the ultimate ride with the best basketball powerhouse ever assembled.

The USA Men’s National Basketball Team has descended on Paris on the sheer power of the Infinity Gauntlet. When the official roster was announced in mid-April, the basketball community was excited, and rightfully so. We couldn’t stop talking about it either. This amount of talent, all in one team, makes them modern day avengers; LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Derrick White, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Halliburton, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum.

There is a list on paper stacked:. For the first time in US basketball history, the men’s national team will feature four former NBA MVPs: Durant, James, Embiid and Curry. Then there’s the team’s 11 combined Olympic appearances, 10 total gold medals, three FIBA World Cup titles, seven returning Olympians and 84 NBA All-Star selections…yeah, the USA isn’t playing fair.

When USA Basketball Men’s National Team CEO Grant Hill set out on a seemingly simple but complex task of building the best basketball team in the world, he assembled a 12-man roster to be led by head coach Steve Kerr. , who could face one of the toughest Olympic fields in recent memory.

The road to glory and the highest view from the top of the podium will not be easy. It never happens. But then again *checks list* we’ve never seen anything like this before.

It’s been 12 years since we last saw LeBron James block the court with the letters “USA” across his chest. Olympic memories of tomahawk dunks, alley-oops out of nowhere and absolute baseline-to-baseline dominance haven’t been a reality for more than a decade.

James decided to rest his body and sit out the 2016 and 2020 games. Now, at 39 and with a catalog of accolades longer than Santa’s wish list, he’s back. And the year 2024 is a different story. it’s his last shot at Gold.

This isn’t the same LeBron that tore up London all those years ago when the legendary Nike LeBron X debuted, but don’t be fooled. The explosiveness is still there, the low post game is everywhere, the court vision is still amazing, and anyone can click at any time. Coming off his 21st season in which he shot a career-high 41 percent from three, LeBron’s fine touch and years of wisdom will be the soul of the pack. And right next to him will be Kevin Durant, a streaky jumper.

The Olympics are KD’s playground. Every four years, the best scorer on the planet plays with defenders and lights up the nets with a FIBA-certified ball. Durant boasts the most experience on this team with three gold medals on his resume, a journey that first began when he became the team’s bucket scorer upon his arrival at the 2012 London Games. He holds the US basketball record books. all-time leading scorer (453), scoring average (19.8 ppg), we could go on and on. If this summer goes as planned, Durant will leave as the most decorated player in USA men’s basketball history with a record four Olympic gold medals.

Stephen Curry, however, is shooting for his first. “We obviously want to go for the gold, and since this is my first experience, I’m very excited,” Curry said. Inside the NBA in the middle of April. “I’m 36 now and I don’t know if I’ll have another one, so this is definitely the year.”

After back-to-back Finals appearances in ’15 and ’16, and the continuation of the Covid pandemic in 2021, Curry, like James, sat out the past two Olympics to rest and nurse some nagging injuries. Meanwhile, the country waited patiently for him to dominate the trio against the world’s best.

It may be his debut, but Curry has been instrumental in the team’s success on the international stage, winning gold at the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups. Now the future Hall of Famer must cross the Olympics off his list. .

Anthony Davis was just 19 when he was selected to the 2012 US Men’s National Team. After taking home the gold, the five-time All-Defensive team honoree is now responsible for manning the paint for the U.S. alongside his first Olympic teammate, Joel Embiid.

Embiid could have played in France, where he holds citizenship, or Cameroon, his home country, but the 2023-24 NBA MVP chose to play in the United States instead.

“After talking to my family, I knew it had to be (USA Basketball). I want to play with my brothers in the League. I want to play for my fans because they’ve been incredible since the day I got here,” Embiid wrote on X in October 2023. “But most of all, I want to honor my son, who was born in the United States, I want to. let my son know that I played my first Olympics for him.”

This year’s team has returning members from USA Basketball’s last gold medal team, including one of the game’s most underrated players, Bam Adebayo. The explosive guard in the open floor, the small forward in the midrange, the center in the block. The 2020 Olympian is a cheat code for international competition. While Bam, AD and Embiid preside down low, Jrue Holiday, another returning member of the team, lurks on the perimeter.

Holiday will pick your pocket, sneak into the passing lane and sit with the best of them. For years, two-time NBA All-Stars have been the glue of championship and contending teams. He plays to win and leads with action. He’s tasked with doing much of the same with defensive stalwart Derrick White, who joins Embiid and Curry as the third on the Olympic team for the first time. The NBA is filled with an abundance of scorers, but the selection of different tactics assembled for the US Men’s National Team is what takes this list from gold to certified platinum.

“This guy will be next to me,” Kevin Durant said The Boston Herald’Mark Murphy after becoming USA Basketball’s all-time scoring leader in July 2021. The “guy” he was referring to was Jayson Tatum.

Tatum vividly remembers the 2020 team’s first matchup against Team USA in Las Vegas. Someone kicked him the ball at the rim, and instead of getting his hands on it, the 23-year-old delayed Durant, who was to his right.

“I remember he was mad at me,” Tatum told Draymond Green on “The Draymond Green Show” in April 2022. “He was like. Yeah, don’t look at me. Be yourself. I need you to kill. And I was like damn…he needs me to me in this team.” So he did.

After dropping their first game of the 2020 Tokyo Games to France, the USA blew away Iran by 54 points in their second game, and then Tatum led the USA team with a team-high 27 points, going 10-16 in the third. shots from the field against the Czech Republic. Point mentioned. The next mascot appeared.

And also Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker and Tyrese Halliburton. As Durant, LeBron and Curry prepare for one last trip this summer, USA Basketball looks to the future of the country’s success on the world stage. It starts with building the next generation of flagships.

This past NBA season served as Ant-Man’s official inauguration as the League’s next superstar. As the offense grinds to a halt and the energy begins to dissipate, Edwards will be laughing as he plans his next stunning display of athleticism to ignite a 20-0 run. Halliburton’s arrival adds to the country’s long line of offensive orchestrations and pass-vision passers, while Booker’s commitment to the midrange and iso prowess usually creates instant offense in the tightest scenarios. The next generation of USA Basketball players is a not-so-subtle reminder of why this team is so exciting. Anyone can claim playing time. This isn’t just a 12-man roster, it’s a deep 12-man rotation.

The schedule will be tiring, but the experience will be unforgettable. Memories will be made, legacies will be cemented and the next chapter of USA Basketball will be written. Meanwhile, Durant wants to see complete dominance.

“I really want to make a statement about how dominant our players are,” Durant said. meeting hall cover story for February. “He wins by 40, 50 points. I want to do it.”