MIES (Switzerland) - The Olympic Games are a dream come true for most athletes in the world. Some achieve it in their prime, some when they are nearing the end of their careers, while others get to experience it before turning 22.
With the final rosters yet to be confirmed, here are some of the most interesting rising stars waiting to shine in Lille and Paris this summer.
Victor Wembanyama - France
No surprises there. The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year is a 20-year-old who's making a trip back home, as he grew up in Paris, playing for Nanterre 92 and Metropolitans 92, before moving to the San Antonio Spurs as the #1 NBA Draft pick in 2023.
One season is all it took for the entire world to fall in love with the 2.24m (7'4'') tall giant. He averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game with the Spurs, growing as a player with each passing month.
In the national team, he's reuniting with coach Vincent Collet, who had coached him at club level already, and doesn't mind bringing the ball up, while pairing him up with Rudy Gobert to create a wall under their rim and make it feel like it's impossible to score.
His mindset is what sets him apart. Wemby is focused on his goals 100 percent, he's working hard every single day, and doesn't care all that much about the hype. At 20, he will be one of the biggest stars of the entire 2024 Summer Olympics.
Matthew Strazel - France
Is there anything better than celebrating your birthday at the Olympics? At home, in front of your fans?
Matthew Strazel is about to find out what it feels like, as he's turning 22 on August 5. Even though he's still just 21, he has already won the French League a staggering four times in a row, twice with ASVEL, twice with AS Monaco.
Strazel plays as a point guard, and his season was more than fine, getting 10.4 points with 3.7 assists per game in the French League, while hitting 38.0 percent of his shots from behind the three-point line.
His partnership with Wembanyama will be of crucial value for the future of French basketball, as the two of them teamed up back in 2021 for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, where Wemby led the competition in blocks (4.7 per game), while Strazel was the best passer with 6.7 assists per game.
Bilal Coulibaly - France
Another player from the Metropolitans 92 academy, Bilal drew scouts' attention while they were in France to monitor Victor Wembanyama's progress. It turns out both of them have a success story to tell.
Coulibaly is a 19-year-old who will turn 20 a day before he takes the floor and plays with France against Brazil at the Olympics, and he is coming off of a solid rookie season with the Washington Wizards, averaging 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in 27.2 minutes per game.
Playing as a forward, he made history with the Wizards, becoming their youngest starter ever, establishing himself as a defensive stopper, but also showing a lot of offensive potential before his season was cut short due to a wrist fracture.
Expect him to form a big three with Wembanyama and Strazel and lead France over the next decade.
Josh Giddey - Australia
He is still 21, despite being around for some time now, and he is certainly the future of Australian basketball, ready to take over once Patty Mills and Joe Ingles decide to end their national team careers.
Giddey had a much tougher NBA season than a year ago, dropping his averages from 16.6 points in 31.1 minutes to 12.3 points in 25.1 minutes per game, and it turned out the 2023-24 campaign was his last with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He's coming to the Olympics as a Chicago Bull, full of motivation to build some momentum over the summer, ride the wave into the next NBA season and continue his growth on the court.
Last summer, he was named the Wanda Rising Star at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, with 19.4 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
Dyson Daniels - Australia
He could've easily been an Australian rules football star, but Dyson Daniels opted for basketball instead. Not exactly a surprise, given the fact that his dad Ricky was a professional player, while his older brother Kai also played, at Regis University in the NCAA Division II.
Dyson is a tall and strong guard, with elite hands to pick up steals on the defensive end, while having all sorts of finishes in between the lines offensively, making the New Orleans Pelicans call his name out loud as the 8th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
The 21-year-old was traded to the Atlanta Hawks this summer, where he will look to fight for more minutes next season, and try to establish himself as the future of the franchise.
He already did that with the Boomers. At 17 years of age, he had a 23-point national team debut against the arch rivals from New Zealand, back in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in 2021.
Later that year, he played the aforementioned FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, which seems to be one of the strongest competitions ever, given the number of players growing up to become stars.
Khaman Maluach - South Sudan
Get this, even if we did this same piece in four years' time, Khaman Maluach would still be eligible to get a mention, since he would be only 21 then.
Now, he's 17. At 2.18m (7'2''), he is a center at the center of attention for South Sudanese future of basketball, especially after a stellar Basketball Africa League season with City Oilers from Uganda.
Maluach averaged 17.5 points, led the BAL in rebounding at 13.5 boards per contest, and set a new record with most blocks in a single game, when he deleted seven shots against Al-Ahly Ly in April.
He was the youngest player at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, he is set to become the youngest player in Paris 2024, and he's moving to the United States afterwards, having committed to Duke for the upcoming NCAA season.
With all the hype around him, it would be a major surprise if he stayed there for more than a year, because he's already a difference maker against grown men. Reminder, he's still 17.
Akira Jacobs - Japan
No matter what happens in Paris, Akira Jacobs already knows he's a part of Japanese basketball history. The forward was the youngest player to ever appear in the Japanese B League, and the youngest one to score, only 17 at the time.
Nowadays, he's in the NCAA, playing for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, mostly coming off the bench as a freshman. Year by year, he hopes to improve and eventually deliver performances similar to his FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 quest.
He was the fifth best scorer of the entire event, getting 17.0 points per game, scoring 20 or more in three games at the World Cup, and hitting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc on six attempts per game.
At 20 years of age, playing his first Olympics is a perfect opportunity to learn all the ins and outs of being an elite athlete from his NBA teammates Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe, especially when it comes to being a modern day basketball forward.
FIBA