American Olympian Basketball Challenge

The USA Men’s Basketball Team was recently announced for the 2024 Olympics and it’s overflowing with talent. In terms of superstar ability, this team appears to be on par with the 1992, 1996, and 2008 squads. I’m certain this team will reignite some of the debates about the best American Men’s Team ever. I always revel in those discussions and wanted to dedicate a post on the matter, but decided to approach it as a challenge that can appeal to each fan’s individual preference…

• Who would you select for an all-time USA Men’s Basketball Team if only one player per squad could be picked?

A few rules to consider regarding my personal selections and how I crafted my team before they’re revealed:

1. Building off of the one player per squad rule, we aren’t permitted to select repeat players. As such, we can’t pick all four of 2004 LeBron James, 2008 LeBron James, 2012 LeBron James, and 2024 LeBron James.
2. I primarily considered players based on their ability at the time of the Olympics, not their overall historical standing. Specifically, players’ performances at the Olympics and the NBA season prior to the Olympics were considered. For example, Anthony Davis was a good player at the time of the 2012 Olympics, but he was 19 years old, fresh out of college, the last man on the USA bench with little to contribute, and was about to enter the NBA as a rookie hovering around All-Star caliber. He was not yet among the best players in the world, so we can’t pick 2012 Anthony Davis and expect him to produce like prime Anthony Davis… Given that professional players only became available for national team selection from 1992 onward, this results in an obvious recency bias to maximize the number of professional players in the squad.
3. When faced with tough decisions or players with similar cases, I based my personal tiebreakers on a combination of my general preference and a player’s overall Olympic legacy, so players with multiple appearances, multiple medals, or memorable moments have a bit of an advantage.

So let’s jump in! I’ll reveal my choices in groups in order of the easiest decisions to the most difficult ones.

Group 1 — The No-Brainers

• 1992 Michael Jordan
• 2012 LeBron James
• 2008 Kobe Bryant

I grouped these three together because each was an undeniable inclusion in my opinion. All three are among the very best to ever play the game. Additionally, the competition for selection for these players from each of their respective Olympic teams wasn’t quite as strong as I expected. The 1992 Dream Team included Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, both of whom could rival Jordan in terms of clout, though both were past their prime by the time they joined the Dream Team. The several players who were in their primes like Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, and John Stockton¹, were still not on Jordan’s level as an all-time, best-of-the-best player. Barkley was the high scorer on the Dream Team, averaging 18.0 PPG on 71% shooting, and arguably the best performer of the group, though I expect that few would argue that he was a superior player to Jordan at the time.

LeBron and Kobe served as each other’s greatest competition for selection in both 2008 and 2012. Fortunately, since they both played in both years, both can be selected. Kobe was still in his prime in 2008 and LeBron was in his prime in 2012, so the timing works out well. Apart from each other, Kobe and LeBron’s biggest competition in 2008 came from Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade and in 2012 came from Kevin Durant and, once again, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul. However, I feel that none of Melo, Howard, Paul, or Wade quite reach the stratosphere of stardom and impact of Kobe and LeBron. Durant arguably comes close, but we’ll talk more about him later…

Group 2 — The Pre-1992 Players

• 1956 Bill Russell
• 1960 Oscar Robertson
• 1984 Patrick Ewing

There have been nine Olympics, including the upcoming 2024 iteration, in which the American team has sent professional players, which means at least three spots on our hypothetical team must come from players who were not professionals at the time of their Olympic participation. I was surprised how easily I settled on the three players above for the non-professional spots. Russell was an extremely easy pick, as he was already one of the best players on the planet by the time he played in the Olympics despite being barely out of college. After dominating in both the NCAA and the international arena, he joined the NBA mid-season and immediately began receiving MVP consideration, then led the Celtics to a championship as a rookie.

Oscar Robertson was also probably already one of the best players on the planet as a college player and Olympian. There was some competition for selection from his Olympic teammates Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, and Jerry West. Although all three were very good at the time, none were yet among the best in the world like Robertson. West would ultimately rival Robertson for the title of best guard on the planet and both players were coming off amazing college careers. However, Oscar was the clear catalyst and best player on the Olympic team. He then went on to post a 30/10/9 per game stat line and achieve First Team All-NBA status as a rookie the following season, whereas West posted a 17/7/4 and wasn’t quite All-Star caliber yet.

The final spot wasn’t quite as obvious though. Michael Jordan was the best player on the 1984 Olympic Team, but he obviously is no longer available for selection after making the cut for his 1992 contribution². Ewing was the next best player on the 1984 team³ and was coming off two consecutive First Team All-American selections, a Final Four Most Outstanding Player selection, and a national championship with Georgetown as one of the most hyped NBA prospects ever. He followed that up with a National Player of the Year selection in the 1984–85 season and then stepped into the league as a readymade star. He wasn’t one of the best players on the planet in 1984 as was the case with Russell and Oscar, but I feel that he was clearly a better player at the time of his Olympic participation than any of the other available non-professional candidates.

That being said, there were several other outstanding options, with Spencer Haywood of the 1968 team prime among them. Haywood had one of the best Olympic basketball performances of any American ever. He followed his Olympic success with a First Team All-American selection in 1968–69 and an ABA MVP award on averages of 30/19/2 per game in 1969–70. If anyone could rival Ewing, it was Haywood, but I still preferred Ewing given the massive hype around him, his size, and his superior defense.

The others I considered were Bob Kurland, Clyde Lovellette, Bill Bradley, and Adrian Dantley. Because Kurland played in the AAU and retained his amateur eligibility instead of joining the nascent NBA, he was a grown man in his prime at age 28 in the 1952 Olympics. Lovellette was the best player on the 1952 Olympic Team and he was fresh off of a college national championship, Final Four Most Outstanding Player selection, and a Helms Player of the Year selection, though he followed that success by joining the AAU for the 1952–53 season and then had a weak entry into the NBA for the 1953–54 season, though he ultimately compiled a Hall of Fame career. Bill Bradley in 1964 and Adrian Dantley in 1976 were also coming off strong college careers and were arguably the best players on their respective Olympic teams, but I don’t think they were in the same orbit as Ewing, Haywood, or even Kurland.

Group 3 — Modern Teams with Minor Debate

• 2004 Tim Duncan
• 2024 Stephen Curry

Tim Duncan is one of the best players ever and 2004 is when Duncan was arguably at his peak. Duncan was coming off an MVP runner-up performance in the 2003–04 season, which was preceded by back-to-back MVPs in 2002 and 2003. He averaged 22/12/3 and 2 blocks per game in 2003–04 to go along with a Second Team All-Defensive selection. He then finished fourth in both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year voting in the 2004–05 season with per game averages of 20/11/2 and 2 blocks before winning his third championship. All that being said, I still seriously debated omitting Duncan, and the 2004 team altogether, due to the lack of a gold medal. I oscillated on this for a while but ultimately felt that prime Duncan was too valuable to ignore. Apart from Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade were all on the 2004 team but nowhere near their primes yet and didn’t receive serious consideration. Allen Iverson was likely the best player on the team apart from Duncan, but I felt that Duncan had a higher overall ceiling in 2004 and was a better fit amongst the other players being selected for this hypothetical team.

2024 presented a similar conundrum given that the team hasn’t played yet and it’s very possible that they don’t win a gold medal. It’s also very possible that one or more of the best players on the team ultimately drops out due to injury prior to the Olympics, with Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, and Kawhi Leonard being the most likely candidates in that regard. I ultimately stayed away from that trio given that uncertainty. Curry is no longer in his prime, but he’s still the best shooter ever and would thrive as a teammate with the likes of Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, and Duncan. I also think it’s likely he remains in the 2024 squad given his health at the end of the NBA season and his determination as a player who has yet to win a gold medal. This hypothetical team needs shooting, so we can’t pass up the greatest shooter ever.

Group 4 — Which Kevin Durant Do We Pick?

• 2020 Kevin Durant
• 2016 Carmelo Anthony

There was never any doubt that Durant would be picked for this hypothetical team. The reason he wasn’t among the above categories is because there was a lot of debate about which Durant to select. KD was, in my eyes, the best player on both the 2016 Olympic Team and the 2021 Olympic Team (I know it was technically the 2020 Olympics, but it occurred in 2021 so I’ll be referring to it as 2021 for simplicity in displaying where KD was in his career at the time of the Olympics). KD was undoubtedly better in 2016, aged 27 and coming off an amazing run of form, than he was in 2021, aged 32 and still putting up league-best numbers but beginning to significantly struggle with availability. Despite KD being better in 2016, I felt that the other non-KD options for selection on the 2016 Olympic Team were clearly better than the non-KD options on the 2021 team. This presented the question: Do we pick peak 2016 KD and an inferior 2021 player, or a late-prime 2021 KD and a superior 2016 player?

Our options in 2016 included Carmelo Anthony cementing his legacy as one of the best American players ever in the international circuit, Kyrie Irving coming off a championship-winning shot and solid Olympic form, and Paul George reestablishing himself as one of the world’s best two-way players. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were arguably at their peaks in 2016, though neither had a particularly strong Olympic performance and didn’t get serious consideration as a result. DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan, and Kyle Lowry were also coming off of All-NBA campaigns in 2015–16, but I didn’t feel as though they were as strong options as the other aforementioned five.

In 2021, Damian Lillard was likely the second best player to Durant in terms of overall talent, though he didn’t have a great run of form in the tournament itself. Jayson Tatum was probably the second most productive player in the Olympics apart from Durant, and he, Bam Adebayo, and Devin Booker were all just about hitting their primes, though I still have the slightest preference for Melo, Kyrie, and George from 2016 in terms of overall ability at the time of their respective tournaments.

None of these options from 2016 or 2021 demanded inclusion in my eyes, as most players were either just entering their primes, on the tail end of their primes, or in the middle of their primes but not dominating the competition at the Olympics like Durant or the best options from other Olympic Teams. Given this general uncertainty, I defaulted to Melo.

Melo was undeniably a better player at the time of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, though he was still an All-Star caliber player and, more importantly, a strong shooter in 2016. Additionally, he and Durant are the only two players as of this writing to hold three Olympic gold medals, though LeBron has the opportunity to tie that mark in 2024. Given the overall contribution to the US Olympic team and the lack of an obviously better option, I feel that 2016 Melo is a solid fallback.

Group 5 — The Extremely Difficult Decisions

• 2000 Vince Carter
• 1996 David Robinson

These decisions were immensely difficult! There were many enticing options from both the 1996 and 2000 squads. 1996 boasted ten superstar players who were arguably at the peak of their powers in Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, and David Robinson⁴. There were also two all-time great players at the tail end of their primes in Charles Barkley and John Stockton, neither of whom I seriously considered. This felt sacrilegious given each of their standing in the history of the game. Barkley was arguably the best player at the 1996 tournament, but he was three years removed from a First Team All-NBA selection by this point. Stockton still had his best team success ahead of him by this point in time, but he was 33 years old in 1996 and didn’t have a very good tournament.

The 2000 team wasn’t quite as rich in all-time great talent, but still offered several Hall of Famers either just entering their prime or enjoying the middle of their prime in Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, and Gary Payton⁵.

It’s tough to parse all-time great players, so some nitpicking was required. I began by homing in on my hypothetical team’s needs. I felt that my team still needed a fifth guard for depth and a third center due to how much international play has historically gone through big men. Our guard options include Penny Hardaway, Reggie Miller, Gary Payton, and Mitch Richmond in 1996 and Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, and Gary Payton again in 2000. Having a second true point guard backing up Oscar Robertson in either Kidd or Payton would be helpful, as would having another all-time great shooter in either Allen or Reggie. However, Penny was the player at the very highest peak in terms of performance following his third-place MVP finish in 1996. And Vince Carter was the best performer of the group in either of the Olympic tournaments. Despite not being on the same level historically as Reggie, Kidd, Payton, or Allen I found myself becoming more and more intrigued by Carter’s candidacy. Vince has some Olympic pedigree appeal due to the fact that he generated arguably the most memorable single moment in American Olympic basketball history when he dunked over Frederic Weis. He was also at his peak in 2000, coming off of a top ten MVP finish and heading into his best statistical season ever. He also offers some strong shooting and he’s easily the most fun player of this group. Between all that and his case as the best individual performer of this guard group in either Olympic iteration, I felt comfortable picking Carter as a reserve guard for my hypothetical team.

Picking Carter from the 2000 squad meant that Garnett and Mourning were no longer available for selection for the third center spot on the hypothetical team. I had a strong inclination to pick Garnett, so that was disappointing, but the combination of Shaq, Hakeem, and Robinson as options from the 1996 squad quickly made that decision sting much less. Of this trio, I really wanted to pick Shaq, but it quickly became apparent to me that he probably wasn’t the right choice. I felt that Shaq’s brand of power basketball would be a great alternative to the defense of Russell and Ewing, whereas Hakeem and Robinson play a brand of ball closer to Russell and Ewing. However, I struggled to find strong reasons to pick Shaq beyond that. Shaq was 23 in 1996, whereas Robinson and Hakeem were more battle-hardened and would provide experience and age next to the younger, less experienced versions of Russell and Ewing. Additionally, both Hakeem and Robinson had much better seasons in 1995–96 than Shaq. Lastly, Robinson was clearly the best of the trio in the 1996 Olympics. In fact, Hakeem’s performance in the Olympics was notably weak compared to both Robinson and Shaq. Robinson also provides some appeal historically as a two-time gold medal winner and a serviceman. Altogether, even though I wanted Shaq, I felt that Robinson was the right pick.

The Final Team

PG — Stephen Curry (2024)
SG — Michael Jordan (1992)
SF — Kobe Bryant (2008)
PF — LeBron James (2012)
C — Bill Russell (1956)
Bench — Carmelo Anthony (2016), Vince Carter (2000), Tim Duncan (2004), Kevin Durant (2020), Patrick Ewing (1984), Oscar Robertson (1960), David Robinson (1996)

Wow, what a team! I feel comfortable asserting that this team would likely beat the 1992 Dream Team, the 2008 Redeem Team, or any other iteration of the American Olympic team. Having peak Jordan teamed up with peak LeBron and supplemented by peak Kobe and peak Duncan, as well as early prime or late prime versions of other players among the very best ever like Steph, Russell, and Oscar, makes this team absolutely unstoppable.

Toughest Omissions

As far as players from Olympic teams who aren’t represented in my final squad, Spencer Haywood was easily the toughest cut. Haywood not only dominated the Olympics, but was probably already around All-Star caliber had he been a professional at that time. In terms of players not selected from Olympic teams who were represented in my hypothetical team, the very toughest cuts were mostly from the 1996 and 2000 teams, with 1996 Shaquille O’Neal and 2000 Kevin Garnett being the toughest, and Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley not far behind. Apart from those two squads, I think 1984 Chris Mullin was the closest to making the team given that there were so many center options and comparably fewer shooting options, so Mullin over Ewing would’ve been practical. I also considered 1988 David Robinson in lieu of 1984 Ewing given that they were similar ages, had similar play styles, and were similarly hyped. Picking 1988 Robinson would also have allowed me to pick 1996 Shaq, but I ultimately felt that Ewing’s gold medal in 1984 warranted his inclusion over Robinson’s bronze medal in 1988.

Lastly, for the fun of it, I put some thought into how I would adjust the team if a rule were implemented to prevent inclusion of the non-winning teams of 1972, 1988, and 2004, as well as the upcoming 2024 team since it isn’t a given that they win the gold. This would remove Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry from my team above. Firstly, I have no hesitation in selecting 1968 Spencer Haywood to replace Duncan. Losing Curry would require us to find not only a replacement guard, but some replacement shooting. As such, I’d swap out 1996 Robinson for Reggie Miller and swap out 2000 Vince Carter for Jason Kidd. Then, to replace Shaq’s size, I’d go with 1952 Bob Kurland. For those who would prefer a bit more modern of an option than Kurland, then 1964 Luke Jackson is probably our best option.

That wraps things up! This was a really fun exercise and the possibilities and combinations were endless. I really like the makeup of my final hypothetical team, but I’m sure many will quibble with the picks and prefer other options. No matter who you personally prefer among each of the Olympic teams, you’re guaranteed to come away with an exciting and dominating team! I’m debating whether to devote more space to Olympic-themed content this summer as we work our way to the 2024 games, so there may be more to hypotheticals along these lines to come in upcoming weeks.

Footnotes

¹ I didn’t include Pippen in this list because I feel that his prime was closer to 1996, when he also participated in the Olympics. Malone and Robinson could also be argued as having their primes occur closer to 1996 instead of 1992.

² I toyed with the idea of picking 1984 Jordan instead of 1992 Jordan in order to open up a spot for someone like Magic Johnson or Charles Barkley from the Dream Team. But I ultimately couldn’t justify passing up Michael Jordan at his absolute peak, even if he was still very good in 1984.

³ A case could be made that Chris Mullin was the second best player on the 1984 team. Neither Mullin nor Ewing played particularly well in the 1984 gold medal game, but Mullin outscored Ewing in the semifinal, a close quarterfinal, and for the tournament as a whole. Additionally, Sam Perkins and Wayman Tisdale posted similar rebounding numbers to Ewing. Still, Ewing is the clear cream of the crop in this group in terms of overall talent.

⁴ I’m not sure if Richmond qualifies as a superstar given that he never had the same height of popularity as the other players in this group. Still, Richmond had comparable shooting numbers to Reggie Miller, superior accolades, and better per game stats than Reggie. However, he didn’t have the popularity, team success, or all-time great playoff performances that Reggie could boast. As a result, despite being a Hall of Famer, he never seems to be discussed in the same breath as other mid-90s All-Stars. Still, even if he wasn’t a household name, he was a very good player and had a very good Olympic performance, so I felt that he deserved to be included in this list of superstars.

⁵ Tim Hardaway is also a Hall of Famer, but I felt that he was just outside of his prime by 2000 and not worthy of consideration.