U.S. men's basketball team loaded with stars
LeBron James is going back to the Olympics for the first time in 12 years. Stephen Curry is headed to the Games for the first time. Kevin Durant will go there with his eyes on history.
And they're just part of a star-studded roster the Americans have assembled for the Paris Games.
USA Basketball announced its men's Olympic team for Paris on Wednesday: James, Curry, Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Kawhi Leonard are on the roster.
“We're giving ourselves a chance to win with the talent we have,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said on NBC's Today show. “It'll be exciting. It'll be tough. It won't be easy. We have great respect for all the other teams. But certainly, this is going to be an iconic roster.”
The group has seven players with 10 combined Olympic gold medals. Durant has three, James has two, while Adebayo, Booker, Holiday, Tatum and Booker each have one. Combined, the 12 players had averages of 24.2 points, seven rebounds and 5.6 assists this season, shooting 39 per cent from three-point range.
Of the 12 players, seven finished the season ranked among the NBA's top 15 scorers per game. James is the league's alltime scoring leader; Curry the all-time leader in three-pointers; Haliburton won the assistper-game title this season, and 10 were all-stars this season as well.
“The goal is to win the gold,” Hill said. “They know that.”
The Americans have won the last four Olympic gold medals and remain ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA, even after failing to medal in the two most recent World Cups — finishing seventh at China in 2019 and fourth at Manila last summer.
They won gold at the Tokyo Games by topping France 87-82. A slew of other countries will expect to contend for gold in Paris — the host French, reigning World Cup champion Germany, Serbia and Canada among them — but the American roster has a depth of NBA stars that no other country can reach.