Biggest Threats to the Men's Olympic Basketball Team

By: Zach Jonkman

7/11/24

The current roster for the US Men's Olympic team might be the best we have ever seen. It'll be up there with the Dream Team in 1992 and the Redeem Team in 2008. There won't be a single team out there with the roster talent to compete with them. However, the Olympic tournament is single-elimination, so if you have one bad game, you're done. This got me thinking. What teams pose the biggest threat to taking out the US in their pursuit of the gold medal?

1. Team Canada

Even though they just played last night, the Canadian National Team has a very talented group. Led by superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, they have a few solid players to surround him with. NBA champion Jamal Murray, star wing RJ Barrett, NBA villain Dillon Brooks, and solid center Dwight Powell round out their starting five. They can also deploy some solid bench pieces as well in guys like Lu Dort, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Andrew Nembhard. We have seen some of these guys play extremely well within their roles on their NBA teams. If a few of them get hot, it could spell trouble for the United States.

2. Team France

France is another team that is interesting for this year's games. They don't have many NBA players, but the few on their roster have FIBA experience. Not knowing the difference in NBA and FIBA rules can win or lose your team games in the Olympics. The main players to look out for on the French team are four-time defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, and reigning rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama. It'll be hard to drive whenever either of these guys are in the paint, so the US would have to settle for some tough/contested jump shots instead. This would allow France to control the US's shot quality and potentially control the whole pace of the game. Wemby by himself is a generational talent on both ends of the floor. He's one-of-one and it'll be hard for the US to find someone to stop his skillset consistently. Wemby also grew up playing with FIBA rules so he's going to feel right at home during the games.

3. Team Australia

Australia is the final international team with a good amount of NBA talent on their roster. Guys like Josh Giddey, Dante Exum, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Josh Green, and Dyson Daniels may not be superstars, but they might be the largest group of current NBA players that the US team will come across. Exum, Ingles, and Mills can all get crazy hot from three at any moment, so the US will have to guard them closely on the perimeter. In a single-elimination style tournament, anything can happen. No team in this tournament can be taken lightly when one loss sends you packing.