Team USA would be aiming to win its sixth straight gold medal when the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics come around. The likes of Stephen Curry and LeBron James powered the team to glory in 2024, but The Ringer’s Bill Simmons doesn’t want anyone over the age of 30 to be playing in the next edition.
Simmons shared his picks for the United States’ roster in 2028 during an appearance on The Zach Lowe Show.
“Starting five, Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton as the backcourt,” Simmons said. “We’re assuming Tyrese Haliburton will come back at 100 percent. I love both of those guys. Edwards probably will be the face of this team, and then Haliburton as probably the best reliable point guard that we’re going to have in 2028, I would guess.
“I have Paolo (Banchero),” Simmons continued. “I have Jalen Williams, who at that point will probably be a four-time NBA champion, and we’ll want him on there… And then Cooper Flagg. Cooper Flagg was the first guy I wrote down. He’s the absolute perfect Olympics guy.
“He’ll care the most,” Simmons added. “You can play small ball five with him, or he can play the four, he can play the three, he can guard everybody. He can shoot threes. He is probably the best international player we’ve produced for a tournament like this in a while. Maybe since [Kevin] Durant.”
Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton are the only holdovers from the 2024 team for Simmons. They are also the only two from his lineup that also made it to Carmelo Anthony’s starting five for Team USA in 2028. Anthony’s other selections notably included Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo.
Unlike Anthony, Simmons didn’t have a traditional big man in his starting five, and he doesn’t believe the team really needs one because of the competition. France’s Victor Wembanyama and Serbia’s Nikola Jokic are likely to be the best bigs that the U.S. will come up against.
Wembanyama likes to operate away from the basket anyway, while Jokic will be 33 years old at the Olympics. He’d still be great, but might not be the utterly dominant force that he is today.
Still, you will need big men on the roster, and Simmons did name a couple when revealing his reserves.
“[Chet] Holmgren and [Evan] Mobley have to be on there,” Simmons stated. “So, that’s seven. Amen Thompson had to be eight… Trey Murphy was my ninth guy… I’m betting on the upside. I think he’s going to keep improving year after year. Both you and I love him. I think he’s one of the most underrated assets in the league.”
Simmons believes it would be ideal to go with some players who are unlikely to cause much of a fuss over not getting a lot of game time. That played a part in New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III’s inclusion.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace is another whom Simmons thinks would be an ideal fit with this group. He reckons Wallace will play a bigger role for the Thunder in the coming seasons and views him as potentially the second ball handler for this team after Haliburton.
As for Simmons’ final two picks, he went left field. For his 11th player, he chose Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel.
“I guarantee you this guy is going to actually be on the team in 2028,” Simmons said. “That’s how strongly I feel about this person. Kon Knueppel… He’s perfect for international basketball. Can play multiple positions, can switch on defense, knows where to go and what to do, like very Derek White-ish, just kind of knows how to fit in with other guys, and can shoot.”
Knueppel was the fourth pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and Simmons thinks he’s going to show enough by 2028 to make the team. If you thought that was bold, his final pick was bolder.
“So, Darryn Peterson, who’s going to Kansas,” Simmons stated. “He is the number one high school player this year, and he just, from all accounts, he’s Kobe [Bryant]. Like the Kobe prototype of just the 6’5″ [Devin] Booker, guard with size, does everything, plays both ends.”
Darryn Peterson is one of the best guard prospects we have seen in quite some time and is one of the favorites to be the first pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Still, considering we haven’t even seen Peterson play for Kansas in college yet, this is an interesting selection.
So in all, Simmons’ team is Paolo Banchero, Anthony Edwards, Cooper Flagg, Tyrese Haliburton, Chet Holmgren, Kon Knueppel, Evan Mobley, Trey Murphy III, Darryn Peterson, Cason Wallace, and Jalen Williams. Does this group win the gold? Well, they potentially could, but it all depends on how these young players develop.
While this would be a very young team, we actually looked at an even younger squad that the U.S. could field. Here’s what an under-23 team would look like at the 2028 Olympics.
