53 NBA stars across 12 teams: Global hoops power on display in Paris
While the Matildas opted for a private jet, the USA basketball’s Dream Team, which collectively earns $800m a year, decided on a more leisurely route to France for the Olympics.
At the Rio Olympics they dodged dorm-room style digs to spend their fortnight on a 400-bed superyacht more suited to a luxury berth off Monaco.
This time feel free to dub America’s newest incarnation of the Dream Team as humble men of the people.
The US men’s basketball team quite literally took the train to Paris, boarding a special Olympic-themed Golden Train from London’s St Pancras International train station on Wednesday.
The 12 members of the US Olympic basketball team, who are the headline stars of the 53 NBA players in Paris, are more accustomed to the private jets that transport them from city to city in their packed 82-game NBA schedule.
This week it was Australia’s Matildas jetted into France on a luxury jet as the new Olympic celebrities become used to the trimmings of fame.
But for LeBron James and his teammates. the train journey kicked off a packed few days that includes training at the Paris venue where they will play their finals after the qualifying rounds in Lille.
The team will on Thursday also be part of a press conference that has become an Olympic tradition full of frenzied journalists from across the world shouting weird and wonderful queries.
Then on Friday night James will join American tennis star Coco Gauff as a flag-bearer during the Opening Ceremony down the River Seine.
The US team will go into an Olympic basketball tournament dubbed the most competitive in history with a star-studded team for which nothing is guaranteed.
While Steve Kerr’s team went 5-0 in its warm-up games Olympic minnow South Sudan gave it an almighty scare with a 16-point half time lead before normal service resumed with a narrow victory.
The US takes on Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico in its three pool games in Lille before the tournament moves back to Paris for the knockout rounds.
Australia will hope to meet the US in one of those rounds, having put up a fighting effort in their warm-up game against the nation’s NBA megastars
“I think we can get a lot better,” US coach Steve Kerr said.
“We’re getting to a place where we are comfortable with our rotations and I think guys are getting familiar with each other. But we can do a lot of things better.”
The men’s basketball Olympic draw for the Paris Games has been widely rated as the best ever based on talent.
It’s a big call to make given the tournament’s rich history dating back decades, but 53 NBA stars across 12 nations is impossible to ignore.
Australia has nine NBA players on its roster, which is only behind Canada (10) and the USA squad worth over a whopping $AU800 million in annual salaries.
Add in Matthew Dellavedova and Will Magnay’s previous American stints in and the Boomers have 11 players with NBA experience.
It’s a remarkable success rate when you consider Australia’s population compared to major markets like America, Asia and Europe.
As the Olympic records books have shown, though, NBA stars don’t always translate to success on the international FIBA stage.
LeBron James was UNSTOPPABLE in the 4Q of #USABMNT's win 👑🇺🇸
— NBA (@NBA) July 22, 2024
11 PTS | 3 REB | 1 STL | 4-4 FGM pic.twitter.com/GxW15SphZI
A side full of individual superstars can often lose to team loaded with players who have been together for years.
This came to the fore at the 1988 Seoul Olympics when tight knit European powerhouses the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia knocked off Team USA to claim the gold and silver medals respectively.
History repeated itself 16 years later via Argentina and Italy, who shocked the hoops world to finish one and two on the podium ahead of a loaded American side featuring NBA guns like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade.
However, the 2024 Team USA squad, dubbed the Supreme Team, head into the Paris Games as the overwhelming favourites to claim gold.
James returns for his final Olympic campaign in France alongside an NBA laden side including Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Steph Curry – the man widely regarded as basketball’s greatest shooter of all-time.
This caliber of talent places the Americans on a pedestal of their own, but the likes of Canada, France and the Boomers won’t go down without a fight.
It’s this renowned doggedness that Australian coach Brian Goorjian wants his players to lean on in Lille when they take on Spain, Canada and Greece in the pool rounds.
“We’re not the most talented team in it, but we’re never going to be,” Goorjian said.
“But we have a team if we have these characteristics that make Australians proud.
“That culture that we talk about, the never take a backwards step and every 50/50 ball is yours.
“If you do that at the elite level, it can take you places that you can’t dream of.”
MEN’S PARIS OLYMPIC BASKETBALL ROSTERS:
AUSTRALIA: (9 NBA players)
Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans), Dante Exum (Dallas Mavericks), Josh Giddey (Chicago Bulls), Josh Green (Charlotte Hornets), Joe Ingles (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jock Landale (Houston Rockets), Jack McVeigh (Houston Rockets), Patty Mills (Free agent), Duop Reath (Portland Trailblazers), Will Magnay, Nick Kay, Matthew Dellavedova
The Boomers finished 10th at last year's World Cup.
— CODE Basketball (@codebballau) July 22, 2024
Josh Giddey has declared they've never been a better chance of winning an Olympic gold medal âž¡ï¸ https://t.co/loqfU1GOyRpic.twitter.com/d9UYMuduMt
TEAM USA: (12 NBA players)
LeBron James (LA Lakers), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Anthony Davis (LA Lakers), Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics), Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Derrick White (Boston Celtics)
BRAZIL: (1 NBA player)
Marcelinho Huertas, Yago Santos, Raul Neto, Alexey Borges, Elinho Corazza, Georginho de Paula, Vitor Benite, Léo Meindl, Gui Santos (Golden State Warriors), Didi Louzada, Bruno Caboclo, Joao Cardoso, Lucas Dias, Cristiano Felício
CANADA: (10 NBA players)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Minnesota Timberwolves), RJ Barrett (Toronto Raptors), Khem Birch, Dillon Brooks (Houston Rockets), Luguentz Dort (OKC Thunder), Melvin Ejim, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC Thunder), Trey Lyles (Sacramento Kings), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets), Andrew Nembhard (Indiana Pacers), Kelly Olynyk (Toronto Raptors), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks)
FRANCE: (5 NBA players)
Andrew Albicy, Nicolas Batum (LA Clippers), Isaia Cordinier, Bilal Coulibaly (Washington Wizards), Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier (Free agent), Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves), Mathias Lessort, Frank Ntilikina, Matthew Strazel, Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), Guerschon Yabusele
GERMANY: (4 NBA players)
Isaac Bonga, Daniel Theis (New Orleans Pelicans), Oscar Da Silva, Johannes Thiemann, Johannes Voigtmann, Niels Giffey, Maodo Lo, Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Andreas Obst, Moritz Wagner (Orlando Magic), Dennis Schroder (Brooklyn Nets), Nick Weiler-Babb
GREECE: (1 NBA player)
Kostas Papanikolaou, Nick Calathes, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Georgios Papagiannis, Konstantinos Mitoglou, Thomas Walkup, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Vassilis Charalampopoulos, Dimitris Moraitis, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, Vassilis Toliopoulos
JAPAN: (3 NBA players)
Yuki Togashi, Akira Jacobs, Yuki Kawamura, Makoto Hiejima, Kai Toews, Rui Hachimura (LA Lakers), Yuta Watanabe (Memphis Grizzlies), Yudai Baba, Josh Hawkinson, Keisei Tominaga (Indiana Pacers), Hugh Watanabe, Yoshii Hirotaka
SERBIA: (4 NBA players)
Aleska Avramovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic (Atlanta Hawks), Dejan Davidovic, Ognjen Dobric, Marko Guduric, Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat), Vanja Marinkovic, Vasilije Micic, Nikola Milutinov, Filip Petrusev (Philadelphia 76ers) and Uros Plavsic
SOUTH SUDAN: (1 NBA player)
Sunday Dech, Wenyen Gabriel (LA Lakers), Koch Bar, Peter Jok, Majok Deng, Deng Acuoth, Marial Shayok, Kuany Kuany, Khaman Maluach, Carlik Jones, Nuni Omot and Junior Madut
SPAIN: (2 NBA players)
Alex Abrines, Santi Aldama (Memphis Grizzlies), Dario Brizuela, Lorenzo Brown, Alberto Diaz, Rudy Fernandez, Usman Garuba (Golden State Warriors), Juancho Hernangomez, Willy Hernangomez, Sergio Llull, Xabi Lopez Arostegui, Jaime Pradilla
PUERTO RICO (1 NBA player)
Arnaldo Toro, Ismael Romero, Chris Ortiz, Stephen Thompson, Tremont Waters, George Conditt IV, Isaiah Piñeiro, José Alvarado (New Orleans Pelicans), Jordan Howard, Gian Clavell, Aleem Ford, Davon Reed
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