PARIS (France) - The first four Gamedays of the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 are behind us, and a day off on Wednesday gives us enough time to review the best individual performances so far.
We are searching for a name to add next to Kevin Durant on the all-time list. FIBA awarded the forward with the MVP honors in Japan in 2021, as Durant averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
To figure out who could win the award in 2024, we put together a list of questions to help us figure out what it takes to climb the MVP Ladder in France:
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? 2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? 4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? 5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP?
#10 Daniel Theis - Germany (new)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Jawohl.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 9.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, efficiency rating 15.0 per game, shooting splits 54 percent - 60 percent - 100 percent from the field, from three-point range and free throws, respectively.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Nope. But he could be the one getting the offensive board or the tip-in.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? To be fair, the chances are so slim this would happen next to Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner, but this is just our way of recognizing how good of a player Daniel Theis is. He's for sure the title favorite in the Best Player Nobody Talks About contest* in Paris.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? He plays with Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner. Meaning, if Germany go all the way, there are better chances one of those two picks up the award.
*There is no such contest, we made it up. He would've been eliminated from that imaginary contest because we just talked about him potentially being the MVP, anyway.
#9 Anthony Davis - USA (new)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Yeah.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 9.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 1.0 steals, efficiency rating 18.5 per game, shooting splits 58-50-100 percent.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? We don't know because his team rarely needs a clutch basket.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He's low-key been the third best player of USA, no matter which role you want him, as a starter, as a backup, as a center, as a power forward, as an incredible teammate. He's all about adaptability. That's probably the best quality you could have in this kind of environment.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? He's low-key been the third best player of the United States.
#8 Guerschon Yabusele - France (new)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Oui.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 11.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, efficiency rating 10.3 per game, big 22-point, 5-rebound game against Canada in the Quarter-Finals.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Let's not lie to ourselves, this is a nope.
3.33) Wait, what!? Yeah, it's either Evan Fournier or Victor Wembanyama, right? Right.
3.66) ...so what are we doing here then? We're just praising Yabusele because he's the spark France need to do something special.
4) You think he'll be the MVP? It could happened, but only if he does do that "something special" two more times and France end up on the top step of the podium.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? He's combined for 12 points against Brazil and Germany, so it's always a question which Guerschon will show up at tip-off, the one who struggled in two games, or the one who was great in the other two games. And consistency is usually the key to win these awards.
#7 Victor Wembanyama - France (-1)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Bien sûr.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 14.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.8 steals, 1.8 blocks, efficiency rating 23.0 per game. Let's skip the shooting splits, okay? Okay.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? For sure.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He's the leader of this French team, even at 20 years of age. He's currently the leader in steals and trails only Nikola Jokic in rebounds, while only Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Josh Hawkinson have a higher efficiency rating per game than Wemby. He's incredible.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? France aren't all that Wemby-dependent. They defeated a team as tough as Canada even with Victor shooting 2-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from the free throw line. But let's be realistic, it's unlikely he'll have another game like that any time soon.
#6 Bogdan Bogdanovic - Serbia (new)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Наравно.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, efficiency rating 19.0 per game, shooting splits 48.1-48.0-90.9 percent. Yes, that's right, Bogdan is shooting 48 percent from three-point range on six attempts per game.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Either him or that other guy near the top of the MVP Ladder.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He's the captain of Serbia, the most beloved player over there, and his performances plus attitude on the court have fortified his spot in the history books of Serbian basketball. Actually, wait. Make that history of international basketball, because he's always on another level when he has SRBIJA written on his chest.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? He plays with Nikola Jokic.
#5 Franz Wagner - Germany (new)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Auf jeden Fall.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 20.8 points (#4 at the Olympics), 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.8 steals, efficiency rating 19.5 per game, shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 87.5 from the free throw line.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Everybody praised the way he closed out the game against Greece in the Quarter-Finals.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He's Germany's main scoring option, and he's playing like he's been through this stress a million times in his life. The maturity is incredible, the fire on the court balancing nicely with the calmness off the court - or at least when he's talking to media members, patiently answering hundreds of questions since he arrived in France. Also, "Franz in France" is a cool campaign slogan, and you need a cool slogan to win these days.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? He may be the best scoring option for Germany, but this is still Dennis Schroder's team. Franz is the first to say so, too, as he has been praising his point guard 24/7.
#4 Kevin Durant - USA (+1)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? ...
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 14.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals, efficiency rating 17.0 per game, shooting splits 60-63-93 percent, yes, that's right, he's shooting 63 percent from deep on four attempts per game.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Sure. Even though that's an IF*.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He's Kevin Durant.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? The way that 39-year-old plays for the United States.
*Big if.
#3 Dennis Schroder - Germany (+1)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Bestimmt. Gewiss. Zweifelsfrei.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 18.0 points, 8.8 assists (#1 at the Olympics), 2.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, efficiency rating 21.3 per game, shooting splits 52-41-100 percent.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Yes. Probably a right side in-and-out crossover or hesi, then a speed burst and a quick finish off one leg.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? He was the MVP of the last major event, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. So, he know how to do it. Also, he's the leader and the one they all look for when the going gets tough for the world champs.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? If Germany go all the way, the only way this does not happen is if Franz Wagner or somebody else goes crazy for back-to-back 30+ games or something like that.
#2 Nikola Jokic - Serbia (+1)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Kакво је то питање, бре!?
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 19.3 points, 11.8 rebounds (#1 at the Olympics), 7.5 assists (#5), 2.5 steals (#2), efficiency rating 32.0 (#1) per game, shooting 60 percent from the field.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? The Sombor Shuffle was on display to win the overtime drama against Australia.
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? It's not always about numbers, but he's seventh in scoring, fifth in assists, second in steals, first in rebounds and first in efficiency rating, by some distance, too.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? Only two cases could happen: (1) Serbia don't win everything, or (2) Bogdan takes over and puts up absurd numbers in the remaining two games.
#1 LeBron James - USA (=)
1) Does his team have a legitimate chance of reaching the podium? Always.
2) What were his numbers in the first four games at the Olympics? 13.8 points, 7.8 assists (#2 at the Olympics), 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals, efficiency rating 21.0 per game, shooting 67.6 percent from the field, all done in just 20 minutes per game.
3) Is he the one taking the shot if his team needs a clutch bucket? Yep. Or dishing out one of his bullet passes. In fact, coach Steve Kerr praised his passing on Tuesday: "That's who LeBron is. To me, for a guy who truly is a point forward at heart. For him to be the leading scorer in NBA history, well that's kind of a secondary thing that he does. It's crazy, but that's LeBron. He's kind of our point guard with this team, and he's playing at such a high level."
4) What makes you think he'll be the MVP? We're here.
5) What makes you think he won't be the MVP? Kevin Durant is the all-time leader in points per game in Olympic Finals, getting 29.7 per game across his previous three Finals. That's a whopping 5.7 points more than Drazen Petrovic and everybody else. So if KD has another big finish ahead of him, he could climb the top of the MVP Ladder, too.
*The MVP Ladder rankings are entirely subjective and are in no way a true and accurate ranking system. All comments are purely those of the author.
FIBA