Biggest threats to LeBron James and Team USA winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics

The 2024 Olympics are rapidly approaching, promising eternal glory and gold medals to the exceptional performances and YouTube ridicule to those who stumble.

The stark contrast is well-known to LeBron James, who has been on the receiving end of both, um, accolades. James and Team USA won gold in Beijing in 2008, and again in London in 2012. But in 2004, James and his American superfriends won bronze, which in USA Basketball terms is the equivalent of finishing last.

Those are the standards of Team USA, and understandably so. America is not only where the best league in the world is located, but it’s also home to hundreds of colleges that would make for legitimate teams elsewhere around the world.

In Barcelona in 1992, the Dream Team captured the imagination of the globe, headlined by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and a plethora of NBA stars who dominated in such a fashion that opponents asked for autographs after getting beat by nearly 50.

That set the expectation for Team USA. Anything short of utter dominance was to be viewed as wholly unacceptable. That expectation has remained, although the team has faltered, not winning the FIBA World Cup since 2014 and losing six out of nine tournaments since 1990.

Led by LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Team USA is the favorite to win gold. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Now James and Team USA are off on another revenge tour, once again using the lack of a FIBA World Cup win to gather the biggest names in basketball to remind the world of their dominance.

As the Paris Olympics loom — the U.S. begins pool play Sunday as part of Group C along with Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico — it’s time to look at the top competition among the field of 12 teams that might present some issues for James and his friends on their path toward Olympic gold.

France

The host nation has stumbled in some of its tune-up games, but France’s frontcourt of Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama is as formidable a defensive big man duo as the Americans have ever faced.

France will outright not allow the aerial display that Team USA is known for. You won’t see a lot of alley-oops…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-07-25 13:58:34

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