FILE – LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks to Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors during their game at Chase Center on October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
There are few surprises in USA Basketball’s men’s player pool for the Paris Olympics that was announced Tuesday, with many of the big names like LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant on the list.
The surprise could have been who was missing.
Draymond Green, who helped Team USA win gold on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games after which one other title on the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, was not among the many 41 names released by USA Basketball as candidates for the team that may compete in Paris this summer seeking a fifth consecutive gold medal.
The naming of the pool is the primary official phase within the means of assembling a 12-player Olympic roster that will likely be coached by Golden State’s Steve Kerr and assisted by Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Tyronn Lue and Gonzaga’s Mark Few. Team selection will likely be finalized this spring, with a lot of those decisions likely hinging upon player health and the way deep their respective teams go within the NBA playoffs.
“America boasts unbelievable basketball talent and I’m thrilled that lots of the game’s superstars have expressed interest in representing our country on the 2024 Olympic Summer Games,” men’s national team managing director Grant Hill said. “It’s a privilege to pick out the team that may help us toward the goal of once more standing atop the Olympic podium. This difficult process will unfold over the subsequent several months as we eagerly anticipate the beginning of national team activity.”
The pool, which is subject to alter, includes 13 players who have already got Olympic gold medals — Durant has three, James and Chris Paul each have two, while Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Damian Lillard, Devin Booker, James Harden, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving and Paul George each have one.
If he plays and Team USA wins, Durant could be the primary men’s player with 4 basketball golds.
“I’ll play within the Olympics,” Durant adamantly said last fall at Phoenix’s media day.
The opposite 28 players on the list are headlined by a pair who may make their Olympic debuts — Embiid and Curry amongst them. Each said last yr that they would love to play on the Paris-bound U.S. team, though again, nothing will likely be finalized until their NBA seasons end.
“Definitely need to be there,” Curry said last fall. “Definitely need to be on the team.”
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid argues with an official in the course of the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Embiid — the reigning NBA MVP, two-time scoring champion and Philadelphia star who scored 70 points Monday night — could have decided to play for France (he has dual citizenship) and even Cameroon, his birthplace, if it qualifies. He selected to play for the U.S. last fall as an alternative.
“When he gets motivated … anything can occur,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.
Also picked for the pool: 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., Cam Johnson, Walker Kessler, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Bobby Portis, Austin Reaves, Duncan Robinson, Derrick White and Trae Young.
“We get to go to Paris. We get to go do something special,” said Adebayo, who got his first gold in 2021 and is anticipated to be a part of the 2024 team. “I reflect on it and I get excited because I get a chance to do something special — twice.”
Green had expressed some interest last yr in being a part of the Paris-bound team.
However the Golden State forward missed 16 games spanning mid-December to mid-January while serving what was originally called an indefinite suspension for striking Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkić within the face. Green said he considered retiring and sought counseling before he was reinstated.
Players not within the pool aren’t exactly ineligible to make the Olympic team; while it’s a protracted shot, it has happened before. San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson was not one in all the 57 players USA Basketball announced in March 2021 as a pool member, but he was eventually chosen for the Tokyo Games team and won a gold medal under Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
That said, it took a unprecedented set of circumstances for Johnson to be in that position.
He was on the U.S. Select Team that practiced against the Olympic team to assist it prepare for the Tokyo Games, got promoted to the national team partly because some players were still collaborating within the NBA Finals, then got added to the Olympic roster (together with JaVale McGee) when Bradley Beal and Kevin Love — each of whom had been picked for the team — needed to drop out late in the method.
