The United States Olympic Basketball team is arguably one of the greatest basketball institutions to compete at the Olympics. The sport was included in the Olympics from 1936 onwards and Team USA has won all but 4 Gold medals in the history of the Games.
The USA would only field college players for the Olympics until the ’80s, but losses in 1980 and 1988 made them realize that they need to start sending the best of the NBA to the Olympics to show the true extent of US domination of the sport. This led to the 1992 Dream Team that featured Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, among every single top star in the NBA at the time.
Andre Iguodala was a part of an incredibly strong 2012 Dream Team that featured the likes of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant, among others. Iggy recently said he would pick Jordan’s 1996 Bulls over the 2017 Warriors but in the same podcast said that the only team with MJ on that he’d pick to lose is the 1992 Dream Team against the 2012 Dream Team.
“I’m not even arguing with you because any team with Michael Jordan on it, I’m picking except for 2012 vs. the ’92 Dream Team,” he said. “I’m not picking the ’92 team.”
The 1992 Dream Team is arguably one of the greatest collections of talent put together on a single team. Outside Christian Laettner, every single one of the players on the team has been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame for their individual contributions to the game.
The 2012 Dream Team was sensational but have players like Tyson Chandler and Deron Williams that probably wouldn’t have made it on the 1992 team. However, the way these 2 worked in the 2012 system was perfect and allowed that team to be as mythical as the 1992 team.
People will have differing opinions on this topic because of the loyalties they have to the eras these teams played in. Either way, they are 2 of the greatest Olympic teams ever assembled.
