Long gone are the days when Team USA faced only six NBA players at the Olympics, as was the case for the “Dream Team” in Barcelona in 1992For this 2024 edition, there are 51 playing in the NBA and no fewer than 81 having played in the Major League and playing in the Olympic tournament.
The globalization of the game has not been limited to men. There are no fewer than 31 players currently in the WNBA at these Olympics. In all, they are 139 players to compete in Olympic basketball events who have gone through the major leagues. The previous record, at the Tokyo Games, was 121 players with NBA or WNBA experience.
In Paris, there will be six former MVPs of the men's league (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic), and four former MVPs (Lauren Jackson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi and A'ja Wilson). Or 13 NBA champions, 16 WNBA champions, 15 All-Stars for men, 20 for women.
Also, several NBA players will be flag bearers during the opening ceremony, such as LeBron James, Dennis Schröder and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
A homogeneous level?
With so many players having NBA experience, it's fair to wonder if this isn't the most competitive tournament in Olympic history.
“ These are certainly the most challenging Games in the history of basketball, answers Vincent Collet, the coach of the Blues. There you go, there is no comparison, for example, with the last Olympics. There are teams that have emerged like Canada, who are very, very, very strong, not far from Team USA which, at the same time, brings the second Dream Team after 92. We can say that, I think, with the players who make it up. So we know all that. And so our group, frankly, is not easy because there is none that is easy, but it is not more difficult than the other two. »
In France's group, Germany will have four players currently in the NBA in its ranks (Dennis Schroder, Daniel Theis, Franz and Moritz Wagner), while Brazil and Japan both have only one player in the NBA (Gui Santos and Rui Hachimura).
A 140th Olympic athlete could have been counted, in the person of Chase Budinger. The former player of the Rockets or the Wolves will represent the United States at the tournament of… beach volleyball.
