Team USA’s chase for the gold medal ended abruptly as Germany bested them 113-111 to advance to the FIBA World Cup Final. This marks the second consecutive World Cup where Team USA will go without a championship.
Following the shocking loss, debate is escalating about whether the rest of the world has caught up to Team USA and whether the coveted squad has lost its edge in international basketball. With this in mind, the focus is now shifting to who could fill the roster for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
CBS Sports took it upon themselves to assemble an ideal roster for Team USA in the next tournament. With this move, they added more popular and dominant players, boosting the team’s chances for a gold medal.
Per CBS Sports:
“As we’ve covered, Curry and Embiid are the two biggest priorities… After those two, we can fill out the starting lineup with the three best players from the 2021 Olympic team: Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant. Good luck stopping those five… Edwards is a lock if he wants to play, so he’ll be the sixth man… Holiday leads the pack for now.”
“We’ll need at least two big men… The easy choice for backup center, should he be willing to play, is Bam Adebayo… To complement him, we’ll need a big man that can shoot… That leaves us with two remaining slots, one for a guard and one for a wing… Haliburton has done enough… Hart sneaks into the final wing slot… That leaves us with the following ideal 12-man roster.”
Notably absent from the list are two-time Olympic champion LeBron James and one-time Olympic winner Anthony Davis. CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn clarified why the two Los Angeles Lakers players didn’t make the cut.
Hi! Important context I’d like on the record: it’s ideal within reality. So like, of course LeBron and AD make the team if it’s literally just the 12 best players. I just doubt they want to play. So it was about building around the guys who might actually play. https://t.co/TjWRxQ2elW
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) September 8, 2023