LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid join perhaps the most star-studded Olympic men's basketball roster since the 1990s as the United States looks to win its fifth consecutive Paris Games title. .
The 12-player team was announced on Wednesday.100 days left until the opening ceremony on July 26th.
This group includes four former NBA MVPs (James, Durant, Curry, Embiid) for the first time on the Olympic roster, as well as 11 2024 NBA All-Stars and a former All-Star selection. Includes the players with the highest total number (84). Any Olympic team.
“It's not going to be easy. We have tremendous respect for all the other teams, but without a doubt, this is going to be an iconic roster,” said USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill. said today.
2024 US Olympic Men's Basketball Player Roster
player |
team |
olympic experience |
all star team |
Devin Booker (G) |
phoenix suns |
2020 |
Four |
Stephen Curry (G) |
golden state warriors |
first olympics |
Ten |
Anthony Edwards (G) |
minnesota timberwolves |
first olympics |
2 |
Tyrese Haliburton (G) |
indiana pacers |
first olympics |
2 |
Julie Holiday (G) |
boston celtics |
2020 |
2 |
Kevin Durant (Female) |
phoenix suns |
2012, 2016, 2020 |
14 |
LeBron James (F) |
Los Angeles Lakers |
2004, 2008, 2012 |
20 |
Kawhi Leonard (Female) |
Los Angeles Clippers |
first olympics |
6 |
Jayson Tatum (Female) |
boston celtics |
2020 |
Five |
Anthony Davis (F/C) |
Los Angeles Lakers |
year 2012 |
9 |
Bam Adebayo (C) |
miami heat |
2020 |
3 |
Joel Embiid (C) |
philadelphia 76ers |
first olympics |
7 |
The seven returning athletes are the most for a U.S. men's team in Olympic history. All players on the team were selected to the NBA All-Star team for the second time in Olympic history and first in 1996.
The original 1992 Barcelona Dream Team (the first team to include NBA players) included three past MVPs: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan, and an All-Star selection at the time. They had a combined 68 players, one fewer than the 1996 team.
At the start of the Barcelona tournament, Bird, Johnson, and Jordan owned a combined 10 NBA titles. James, Durant and Curry currently own a combined 10 NBA titles.
The record for oldest U.S. Olympic male basketball player was held by Bird in 1992 at 35 years, 7 months, and will be broken by James (39), Curry (36), and Durant (35 years, 10 months). It turns out.
Overall, this is the oldest U.S. roster in Olympic men's basketball history, with an average age of 30 years and 9 months at the start of the Olympics. Formerly the oldest member of the team, he averaged 29 years and 10 months in 1996.
James returns after playing on the teams that won gold in 2008 and 2012 and the team that won bronze in 2004. This summer, James, Deanna Taurasi and Spain's Rudy Fernandez could become the first basketball players whose Olympic careers span 20 years, the newspaper reports. olly mad men.
Durant has led the United States in points per game in the past three Olympics, and in Tokyo he broke Carmelo Anthony's all-time Olympic scoring record for an American male. Durant is up to 436 points, 52 points shy of Lisa Leslie's U.S. Olympic points record for women or men.
He also has a chance to tie Anthony for the record for most Olympic men's basketball gold medals.
U.S. Olympic men's and women's basketball legends have one thing in common: uniform numbers.
This will be Curry's first Olympic appearance, but he was on the gold medal-winning teams at the FIBA World Cup in 2010 and 2014. The US head coach is Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Warriors.
Embiid had three options for international basketball and chose the United States over France and Cameroon. He will be playing in his first major international tournament.
Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, will also make his senior national team debut. In 2012, he was on the U.S. selection team, a group of young players who practice with the Olympic team after their rookie season.
“Defense was definitely a priority. We had guys that could lock down and defend multiple sets within a possession,” Hill said. “I think it's a combination of maturity, emotional maturity, and personality. You can have the best of the best, but most importantly, you have the best of the best.”
Tatum, Booker, Adebayo and Holiday all represented the Tokyo Olympics.
Davis was selected to the 2012 Olympic team before his NBA rookie season as the youngest U.S. Olympic male athlete ever.
At last summer's World Cup, the United States, which had no players with previous Olympic or World Cup experience, finished in fourth place. Edwards and Haliburton return from that team and will make their Olympic debuts.
“A FIBA game is a different game than an NBA game,” Hill said, pointing to the more physical element of international competition. “You need players who can definitely compete on that stage. To be honest, I learned a lot over the course of last summer. Certainly, I want to be on an elite team and have a chance to seriously compete for gold. I learned about the team.”
America's biggest medal challengers
Other teams vying for medals include three 2023 World Cup medalists: Germany, Serbia (likely Nikola Jokic) and Canada (likely Shai Gilgeous-Alexander).
France defeated the United States in group play at the 2021 Tokyo Games, but lost to the United States (87-82) in the Olympic final, the closest in 49 years. Victor Wembaneyama is expected to make his Olympic debut for France at the Paris Games.
At least one of Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo will not be in Paris. Slovenia and Greece will compete in the same last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament in early July, with only the winners qualifying for the Olympics.
The U.S. Olympic men's 3×3 roster was finalized last month.. The girls' 5-on-5 and 3×3 rosters will be finalized later this spring.
Qualifying groups will be determined for the men's and women's basketball tournaments for the 2024 Paris Olympics.