Team USA finally began to fill out the roster this week, making LeBron James and Anthony Davis the latest members of the exclusive unit. The Lakers duo went viral on Wednesday after receiving their jerseys for the first time, beaming with excitement to represent the country.
It's a Showtime Summer.
For the first time since 2012, @KingJames & @AntDavis23 will take the court at the Olympics.
🇺🇸 #USABMNT pic.twitter.com/tvd6C79ntJ
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) April 17, 2024
The players got a pretty lucrative welcome and while the Lakers are hard at work preparing for the NBA playoffs, the star duo did spare some time to acknowledge their upcoming stint at the Paris Olympic Games. James and Davis were early commits to the USA roster and began showing interest as early as last summer when Team USA shockingly lost the FIBA World Cup. The 12-man roster includes James, Davis, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jrue Holiday, and Bam Adebayo.
76ers star Joel Embiid also made the team and he had a similarly enthusiastic reaction to his new Team USA threads. The former MVP will wear 11 for the team, while Davis still sports No. 14 and the two will likely start side-by-side.
Joel Embiid receives his Team USA jersey 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fVe1nd9uQl
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 17, 2024
It’s all smiles for the USA squad and there’s a feeling that they already know what to expect. This year, a roster akin to the Avengers is repping the USA and it’s going to be hard for any country to keep up with all that top-end talent.
After looking so vulnerable for years, it isn’t going to be an easy climb to the top for the USA but now that the best players have decided to participate we could see Team USA re-take a familiar place at the top of the basketball food chain. If not, it could qualify as one of the biggest upsets in basketball history.
Pairs 2024: The Revenge Of Team USA
There was no question about who ruled the sport at the international level. During the days of the Dream Team with Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and others, they made history together as, arguably, the best team ever assembled. The same could be said of the 2008 Redeem Team with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard, who went on to avenge the nation after their loss a few years before.
But over more recent history, star participation has seen a sharp decline and it led to Team USA having to recruit secondary players to fill out the roster. Pretty soon, the rest of the world began to catch up and they quickly closed the gap.
Today, some of the game’s best players are from overseas, including Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Unlike in years past, the US can no longer just coast by with less than its best. To win this summer, and going forward, Team USA must be about the superstars and it seems many of them have answered the call to join.
Both LeBron and Davis have experienced this before but there’s something different about this year knowing that it could be their last one together. Only with the gold medal will it be a satisfying ending to his summer and that’s the only proper send-off for one of basketball’s all-time biggest heroes. They owe it to him to win one more medal and prove to the world that Team USA hasn’t yet lost its way.
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