MIES (Switzerland) - For the first time ever, four NBA MVPs are together on the same team, with LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid joining forces to get the United States back on top, after a fourth-place finish at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Along with four Regular Season MVPs, this team also has seven NBA champions, 11 combined Olympic appearances and 10 Olympic gold medals, while Derrick White is the only player without an All-Star selection among the 12 men.
The Roster
Back in 1992, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan were the three NBA MVPs with 10 NBA titles between them, setting a benchmark for the future of this team. In 2024, coach Steve Kerr gets to call plays for a generation with even more accolades.
His players won a total of 15 NBA titles, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White picking up the most recent one with the Boston Celtics.
The team is loaded with experience in events like these, too, as seven of the players already climbed the Olympic podium, led by Kevin Durant who has a chance to become the first male player with four gold medals. He fought through a calf injury to make the team in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
While Steph Curry wasn't a part of the Olympics yet, he has two major championships to his name with the national team, collecting back-to-back FIBA Basketball World Cup titles in 2010 and 2014.
Through the preparation period, few things were easy to notice. Anthony Edwards, while being the youngest player on the roster at 22, wasn't afraid to be the driving force on the floor. LeBron James and Joel Embiid were starting in the frontcourt, allowing Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo to create a lethal one-two punch of the bench, and Steph Curry's movement without the ball is still elite.
The substitutions and rotations were happening at ice hockey speed, keeping the same flow and energy through the 40 minutes of action, similar to coach Kerr's prior experiences with the team, as an assistant to Gregg Popovich during 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and as the head coach since 2021.
The Question
Will one ball be enough? Because all of these players are used to having the ball in their hands and being the decision makers, and now they have to settle for less minutes and less shots than usual.
We all know the answer. The key is to leave the ego at the door, and focus on the common goal of putting the USA Basketball back on top, after missing out on a podium place finish in the Philippines last summer.
The Hope
Winning the Olympics in Paris would have multiple layers. One of them would be the future of this program, because nothing is more impressive for newer generations of players than witnessing their heroes come together for this ride, seven of them being in their 30s.
The hope is that winning today would inspire a better tomorrow for the national team. Especially because the next Olympics are in Los Angeles.
The Fear
The only fear is that there is no fear in opponents' eyes anymore. The toughest challengers all have NBA stars who will not be intimidated when they see LeBron James tossing the chalk before tip-off, and they won't be scared if Anthony Davis or Bam Adebayo block a couple of layup attempts in a row, nor if Anthony Edwards flies over five people for a poster dunk.
Back in 2021, the United States suffered their first Olympic defeat since 2004, and won the Final by only five points, the closest margin since the 1972 Olympics and the endless game between the Soviet Union and Team USA (51-50).
Just another example of the rest of the world catching up.
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