The U.S. men's basketball team has formed a super luxury lineup again, and Durant has the fifth gold medal in his hand
On April 16, Beijing time, according to US media reports, the US national men's basketball team for this summer's Paris Olympics has been basically determined, and the 12-member list is currently only one vacancy. At present, several "big guys" in the NBA league, James, Durant and Curry will join forces for the first time, plus Embiid, Tatum, etc., forming a super luxurious star lineup, which is obviously going to the goal of defending the title. This lineup is also considered to be the most luxurious and popular combination of the U.S. men's basketball team after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the 2012 London Olympics.
The U.S. men's basketball team has confirmed the list of participants in the Paris Olympics: James (Lakers), Durant (Suns), Curry (Warriors), Embiid (76ers), Tatum (Celtics), Booker (Suns), Holiday (Celtics), Anthony Davis (Lakers), Edwards (Timberwolves), Bam Adebayo (Heat), Haliburton (Pacers). The national team is coached by Warriors head coach Kerr and is expected to start the first game with James, Durant, Curry, Embiid and Devin Booker.
The U.S. men's basketball team will prepare for the Paris Olympics at training camp in Las Vegas and is scheduled to play a warm-up game against Canada in Las Vegas on July 11 before traveling to London for a July 21 match against South Sudan and a July 23 game against Germany. The men's basketball team for this year's Paris Olympics has been decided – Group A: Australia, Canada, the winner of Greece and Spain, and Group B: France, Germany, Japan and Latvia and Group C: the winner of the United States, Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
As far as the national team level is concerned, Durant is the undisputed king of this lineup, and his contribution to the United States team is the greatest. Durant has participated in four Olympic Games in Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo, and has played in 34 games for the U.S. Men's Basketball Dream Team, accumulating 434 points, becoming the all-time scoring leader of the U.S. Men's Basketball Dream Team, and the U.S. team has won gold medals in all four Olympic Games. Durant became the only player in U.S. men's basketball history to win four Olympic gold medals and the most Olympic gold medals in the world. He led the U.S. men's basketball team to a fourth gold medal against France at Tokyo 2020 and scored 29 points in the final, setting a new record for the most points scored in a single Olympic game. Durant's scoring ability is unmatched on the international stage and is known as the "King of the International Competition".
Next is James, who is nearly 40 years old and has participated in three Olympic Games, and at the age of 19 he participated in the Athens Olympics, but only won the bronze medal, and the championship was won by Argentina. James won the championship with the team at both the Beijing and London Olympics. Curry, the so-called "Big Three" in this lineup, is the first time to represent the United States team in the Olympics, striving to win his first Olympic gold.
According to the current lineup, this US team is different from the lineup that has participated in the World Cup in recent years, completely exceeding the strength of the World Cup, which shows that these professional basketball players in the United States attach much more importance to the Olympic Games than the World Cup, at least the inside and outside are more balanced, Embiid, Davis and Adebayo will shoulder the heavy responsibility of interior offense and defense. And in the last World Cup, the U.S. team had few interior players who could compete with the big European teams. Looking at the 2019 World Cup in China, the leaders of the U.S. team are only Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell, who are second-tier stars in the league, so it's no wonder they can't even enter the semi-finals.
This time is different, fans around the world can enjoy the "combined" performance of the top superstars of American professional basketball on the Olympic stage, and Durant, Curry and James play on the same team, which is a very rare opportunity. This lineup is also considered to be the strongest lineup of the American team after the 1992 Dream Team, 2008 Beijing, and 2012 London.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin