After the 1992 Dream Team was formed, it opened the gateway for NBA stars to represent Team USA in the Olympics.
In the 1996 Olympics, Team USA once again entered with a roster full of NBA superstars. Former Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill revealed in an interview with the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast that no one wanted to be the team’s leading scorer because of the hassle of getting drug tested after each game.
“In the Olympics, true story. Nobody wanted to be the leading scorer because you got drug tested,” Hill said. “The only person that got drug tested every game was Karl Malone. It was Karl Malone and whoever the leading scorer was. We figured it out after a couple of games. So at the end of the games, everybody’s passing to each other because nobody wants to shoot. And it looks like we’re being like real unselfish, but nobody wanted to score because it took another hour of drug testing and all that.”
(Starts at 38:56)
Since the inclusion of NBA stars, Team USA became a cheat code in the Olympics. They would win games easily, and it was only natural for the authorities to worry about the players’ drug usage.
While that wasn’t the case, it became tedious for players to attend these random drug tests. Hilariously, it made the 1996 Dream Team look unselfish toward the end of the games.
How Good Was The 1996 Dream Team?
The 1996 Dream Team featured the likes of Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, and other phenomenal NBA superstars.
Evidently, they helped Team USA in winning all eight of their games at the Olympics with an average margin of 31.75 points. While Hill said nobody on the team wanted to be the leading scorer, someone had to handle the offensive duties. Keeping that in mind, here are the top-five scorers on the 1996 Dream Team:
1. Charles Barkley – 12.4 PPG
2. David Robinson – 12.0 PPG
3. Reggie Miller – 11.4 PPG
4. Scottie Pippen – 11.0 PPG
5. Grant Hill – 9.7 PPG
According to Hill, Karl Malone, who got drug tested after every game, surprisingly ranks ninth on the list, with 8.4 PPG. Malone’s drug testing was probably more related to his chiseled physique than his scoring prowess.
Either way, no amount of drug tests could stop the 1996 Dream Team from winning the gold medal for the USA. Speaking of which, you may like our writer Kyle Dubb’s excellent piece on where the players of the 1996 Team USA are right now.
While some of the players have stayed connected to the game of basketball, others have pursued different routes in their lives since retiring from the league.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
