The 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup ended last weekend, and the United States team finished fourth, which is obviously not a satisfactory result for the American team, which is a dominant international basketball team. Many people began to wonder what kind of team the United States would send to compete in the Olympics next year?
LeBron James Photo by IC photo
According to veteran basketball journalist Shams Charania, NBA all-time scoring champion LeBron James, who holds two Olympic gold medals, is interested in playing in the Olympics again. According to people familiar with the matter, he is ready to compete in the Olympics next year, and has called many stars to recruit them to travel to Paris with him. According to follow-up reports, sources revealed that James, Durant and Curry have talked about this with each other, and they all regard next year's Olympics as their "last dance" on the national team.
The strongest team, the sword for gold
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when the U.S. men's basketball team lost frequently on the international stage, it was not until superstars such as Kobe, James, Kidd, and Anthony that the U.S. team regained the Olympic gold medal. However, 15 years on, European basketball has made great progress, and if the U.S. men's basketball team cannot send a "dream team" with a superstar lineup in the future, it will be greatly difficult to win gold medals at the Olympics.
According to Charania, James has a strong interest in competing in next year's Olympics and is ready to represent Team USA next summer. The report also said that James has communicated with Durant, Curry, Anthony Davis, Green and others, and they are expected to make promises to join the team next year. In addition, people familiar with the matter revealed that Booker, Lillard, Fox, Irving and others are also very interested in competing in the 2024 Olympics, Chris Paul is also considering whether to participate in the Olympics again, and All-Star center Adebayo is also considered a strong candidate to represent the US men's basketball team in the Olympics.
LeBron James Photo by IC photo
Because the US men's basketball team lost to Canada in the World Cup not long ago, it ended the World Cup competition with only fourth place. Therefore, it is inevitable that the outside world will link the failure of the US men's basketball team in the World Cup with James' plan to participate in the 2024 Olympics. To this end, Charania explained this point at the first time, pointing out that James has been preparing and working hard for this Olympic trip for a long time, and has nothing to do with the loss of the US men's basketball World Cup.
It is doubtful whether the "Dream Team" can be successfully formed
At present, James has competed in the Olympic Games three times: Athens 2004 (bronze medal), Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (gold medal) and London 2012 Olympic Games (gold medal). In the Olympic arena, James averaged 20.4 minutes per game, handing over 11.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals; Durant has always been one of the biggest killers of the American team in the international arena, winning Olympic gold medals three times; and Curry has never represented the United States in the Olympics, and the Olympic gold medal may be the last missing thing in his brilliant career.
Curry is based on IC photo
However, James still faces many problems in successfully forming this "dream team". First, by the time of the Paris Olympics, James will turn 40, and Curry and Durant will both be 36 years old... Can a team with such an older average age still maintain a high level of competitiveness? Second, the NBA's offseason World Cup and Olympics have historically been less popular with top stars because they need offseason time to rest, recuperate and adjust to prepare for the new season. For example, in this men's basketball World Cup, Nikola Jokic, the most valuable player in the NBA Finals, did not choose to represent Serbia. Therefore, whether this ideal American "dream team" can be successfully formed is still unknown.
Red Star News reporter Pei Han Zhou Yao
Edited by Ou Peng
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