Culture Corner

First came the original ‘dream team’; the first olympic team to include professional basketball players, the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, David Robinson, and Charles Barkley, to name a few. Next, the ‘redeem team’, to make up for the USA’s disappointing bronze medals in the 2004 olympics and 2006 FIBA world championship, with greats like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, and of course, the late Kobe Bean Bryant. Now, a new ‘dream team’ has emerged, with both greats from the modern era of basketball, and emerging young superstars.

USA will be looking for a better result after their performance at the 2023 FIBA world cup, where they couldn’t even snag a medal, finishing in fourth place. The US were knocked out by Germany, who went on to win the tournament, with Serbia finishing in 2nd, and Canada 3rd. Since then, however, the team has changed drastically, so who have they recruited for the olympics?

The full roster is as follows: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Bam Adebayo and Tyrese Haliburton.

LeBron James makes a return, with his possible last appearance for the olympic team. The 38 year old already has 2 gold medals, along with a large list of attainments from the NBA, including 4 NBA championships. Stephen Curry, who also has 4 NBA championships, will be making his team USA debut. The clinical 3-point shooter, and arguably greatest point guard of all time, will be a dangerous addition to an already dangerous team. Another grizzled veteran, Kevin Durant, joins the team looking for his 4th gold medal, which would make him the first 4-time gold medalist in men’s olympic basketball history. Now onto the new, young talent; Anthony Edwards, who has had a breakthrough season this year, will make his first appearance for the national team, after leading his team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, to the Western Conference finals, losing to Dallas in 5 games. The youngster has been praised for his winning mentality, and is expected to be a lethal scorer for the US. Another youngster who lead his team to the conference finals this season was Tyrese Haliburton, who led the regular season in assists this season, and will most likely be a backup point guard for Curry.

The most impressive aspect of Team USA, is perhaps their squad depth, which is going to be hugely important for not only their offensive, but also defensive capabilities, especially when the minutes are dragging on, and legs are tired.

Team USA kick of their olympic campaign against European powerhouse Serbia, led by NBA league MVP, Nikola Jokic, on the 28th July.