Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, and LeBron James were all named in the USA Basketball men’s player pool for the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
But among the 41 names announced was none other than Draymond Green, who assisted the United States in winning gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and then another title at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The 12-person squad that will participate in Paris this summer will be vying for the USA’s fifth consecutive gold medal.
The process of putting together a 12-player Olympic roster, led by Steve Kerr of Golden State and supported by Erik Spoelstra of Miami, Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Mark Few of Gonzaga, officially began with the pool’s naming.
This spring, the teams will be decided upon, and a lot of those choices will probably depend on the health of the players and how far each team advances in the NBA Playoffs.
Men’s national team managing director Grant Hill remarked, “I am happy that many of the game’s superstars have indicated interest in representing our country at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.” The United States has incredible basketball potential.
“It is an honor to choose the team that will support us in our quest to return to the top of the Olympic podium.” Over the next few months, this difficult process will take place as we excitedly await the commencement of national team activities.
Thirteen players—Durant with three, James and Chris Paul with two—are in the pool of players who have already won Olympic gold medals. The remaining players are Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Damian Lillard, Devin Booker, James Harden, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, and Paul George, who each have one.
Durant would become the first man to win four basketball gold medals if he participated and the United States triumphed.
Durant declared emphatically during Phoenix’s media day last autumn, “I will play in the Olympics.”
Embiid and Curry, two players who might be making their Olympic debuts, are the standouts among the remaining 28 players on the list. Although, as previously mentioned, nothing will be confirmed until after their NBA seasons, both stated last year that they would like to be on the American squad headed to Paris.
Curry stated last autumn that he “really wanted to be there.” “I would really like to be on the team.”
Embiid, the two-time scoring champion, NBA MVP, and standout player for Philadelphia who scored 70 points on Monday night, had the option of playing for either his homeland of Cameroon, which qualifies, or France, as he holds dual citizenship. Instead, he opted to play for the United States last fall.
Jarrett Allen, Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Scottie Barnes, Mikal Bridges, Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Alex Caruso, Anthony Edwards, De’Aaron Fox, Aaron Gordon, Tyrese Haliburton, Josh Hart, Tyler Herro, Chet Holmgren, Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr., Austin Reaves, Duncan Robinson, Derrick White, and Trae Young are also included in the pool.
We are able to visit Paris. Adebayo, who won his first gold medal in 2021 and is predicted to be on the 2024 squad, said, “We get to go accomplish something amazing.” “When I think about it, I get happy because I get to accomplish something special twice.”
Green had shown some interest in joining the team headed to Paris the previous year.
However, the Golden State forward’s initial indefinite suspension for striking Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face caused him to miss 16 games between mid-December and mid-January.
Prior to being given his job back, Green claimed he thought about retiring and went to counseling.
Although it seems unlikely, players who are not in the pool are not completely ineligible to make the Olympic squad.
Although Keldon Johnson of San Antonio was not included in the pool of 57 players published by USA Basketball in March 2021, he was finally chosen for the Tokyo Games squad and earned a gold medal under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
Still, Johnson was in that situation only because of a unique combination of events.
He was part of the U.S. Select Team, which trained with the Olympic team in order to help it prepare for the Tokyo Games. Due in part to players still competing in the NBA Finals, he was promoted to the national team. He was then added to the Olympic roster, along with JaVale McGee, when Kevin Love and Bradley Beal, who had both been selected for the team, had to withdraw late in the process.
