On April 18, Beijing time, the United States Basketball Association officially announced the United States men's basketball team for the Paris Olympics, and 12 people led by James Curry Durant will participate in the Paris Olympics this summer, and their goal is to complete five consecutive Olympic championships!
The U.S. men's basketball team has announced the 12-player roster and their numbers:
LeBron James No. 6, Stephen Curry No. 4, Kevin Durant No. 7, Joel Embiid No. 11,
Bam Adebayo 13, Anthony Edwards 5, Tyrese Haliburton 9, Anthony Davis 14
Jrue Holiday 12, Devin Booker 15, Jason Tatum 10, Kawhi Leonard 8.
It should be noted that if the World Basketball Association has opened up the selection of numbers, the U.S. men's basketball team still continues the traditional rules of numbers 4-15. And the numbers selected by the 12 people also have hidden mysteries, James chose the No. 6 worn most in his NBA career except for No. 23, and Durant chose No. 7 for the same reason. Curry chose No. 4 because it was his previous U.S. team number, and Tatum chose No. 10 to pay tribute to Kobe, which is also the number he wore to the U.S. team before. Other players, including Bam Adebayo and Edwards, have also picked the numbers they are currently wearing, or have worn before.
Although Leonard and Embiid have been in the NBA for many years and have won championships and MVPs respectively, they are the only two newcomers to the U.S. team, and this year's Olympics will be their first appearance for the U.S. men's basketball team.
Of the 12 players on this list, seven players have a total of 10 Olympic gold medals, Durant has three, James has two, and Davis, Adebayo, Holiday has one, Tatum and Booker have one each. The 12 players are averaging 24.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game this season while shooting 39 percent from three-point range.
Among them, Durant has won the Olympic championship three times before, and if the U.S. team can win the championship again this year, Durant will become the first player in the history of the U.S. men's basketball team to win the Olympic gold medal four times. Durant ranks first in U.S. men's basketball Olympic history in the following stats, with total points (435), points per game (19.8), shooting (146), three-point shooting (74), and free throw shooting (69). Durant ranks third in the U.S. Men's Basketball Olympics for total rebounds (118) and blocks (16), and fourth in appearances (24) and assists (71).
The biggest attraction of this year's U.S. team comes from the team-up of James, Curry and Durant, which is the second time they have teamed up in their careers, and the last time the trio teamed up was in this year's All-Star Game, when the Western All-Stars lost to the Eastern All-Stars.
At this year's Paris Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team was placed in Group C, along with Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico, the winner of the Olympic qualifiers. The U.S. men's basketball team has won four consecutive championships in the last four Olympic Games, and the last time they lost a gold medal was at Athens 2004, when they lost 81-89 in the semifinals to eventual champions, Ginobili's Argentina, and defeated Lithuania 104-96 in the bronze medal game.
In addition, the head coach of the U.S. men's basketball team is Warriors coach Steve Kerr, with Heat coach Spo, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue and Mark Fayu (Gonzaga University coach) serving as assistant coaches. Interestingly, in the current roster, Kerr and Curry are the first two to prepare for the Olympics.
With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games kicking off on July 26, what do you think the U.S. team can achieve? How many points will they win the gold medal on average?