With LeBron And Steph Curry Confirming They Want To Join Team USA For The Olympics, The Rest Of The World Is In Big Trouble
Kevin C. Cox. Getty Images.Earlier this summer following another extremely embarrassing and shameful showing at the FIBA World Cup for Team USA, it didn't take long for the rumblings to come out that LeBron had called up all his buddies and decided that come the Olympics, it was time to get the band back together and actually bring the US's best of the best.
With today being Media Day across the league, the topic of this summer's Olympics naturally came up and not only did we get some confirmation from some of those initial stars LeBron reached out to, we have even more committments
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This also doesn't even count Jayson Tatum, who I feel confident will also decide to play because all that man ever does is play basketball. You can't get him off the court.
So while the rest of the world may be feeling a little confident after the last few FIBA World Cup showings, let's not forget it's Team USA that has won the last 4 gold medals at the Olympics and now we live in a world where LeBron is back and we get to add Steph Curry for the first time ever. Can you imagine a world where they are also adding a healthy AD, Kawhi or Zion? Mix in a little Kyrie Irving just for fun?
Seems pretty good!
Of course just because a player might be interested in Team USA does not mean Team USA will be interested. Of that list, I'm not so sure there's going to be a spot for the Fred VanVleet, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle, etc of the world. Especially if all the top guys are going to actually commit. Based on what we saw this summer I think it's fair to suggest that Bam/Lopez will be added to the frontcourt, and I also think someone like Anthony Edwards played his way into having a legit shot to crack the real team.
There's also the little detail of it only being October 2nd. There's a lotttttttt of basketball to be played before everyone heads to Paris this summer. Everyone may be interested in playing for Team USA at this point of the calendar because they've had all summer off and their bodies probably feel great. Let's check back on that in 8 months, but barring some sort of injury I really do hope we see another Dream Team-esq roster. Especially since this is probably the last chance to see LeBron (again), Steph, KD, and some of the other older superstars. What better way to go out than doing what Team USA does best at the Olympic and kick the rest of the world's ass.
Maybe one day Team USA will also take the FIBA World Cup seriously in a sense that they actually send their best for that tournament, but in the meantime, they'll just have to settle with loading up the roster in an effort to once again remind the world that when Team USA brings its big guns, you're all in big, big trouble.