LeBron James, Stephen Curry Headline 41-Player USA Basketball Pool for 2024 Olympics
Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRT
Featured Columnist IVJanuary 23, 2024
USA Basketball revealed the 41 players in its potential selection pool for the 2024 Summer Olympics roster on Tuesday, with several usual suspects highlighting the roster, including LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpearsHighlighted by LeBron, Curry and KD, <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@usabasketball</a> announces 41-athlete player pool for the 2024 USA Basketball Men's National Team. The 12-member team will represent the United States at Olympic Summer Games in Paris, will be announced after the NBA season. <a href="https://t.co/tfHK9NxNUm">pic.twitter.com/tfHK9NxNUm</a>
Defending NBA MVP Joel Embiid, who committed to USA Basketball in October, is another virtual lock to make the final 12-man roster.
Trying to pick just 12 players out of that impressive pool of options is no small feat, but a few players seem like safe bets if they are healthy.
Having at least two reliable centers makes sense, and both Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are excellent options behind Embiid. Will Team USA carry three centers on a 12-man roster though? That will be one of the tough decisions.
Curry will undoubtedly be brought aboard at one of the guard spots and James and Durant will handle two of the roster spots on the wing. It will get extremely competitive on the roster after that.
We'll start at wing, where players like Devin Booker, Jaylen Brown, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Jayson Tatum and maybe even Scottie Barnes should all be in serious consideration.
At guard, Jalen Brunson, De'Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and Trae Young warrant possible selection.
Here's an early projection of what the roster could look like:
Centers: Embiid / Davis
Wings: James / Durant / Tatum / Edwards / Leonard / George / Butler
Point Guard: Curry / Lillard / Haliburton
That is a ridiculous potential roster. It's possible with that much scoring and playmaking that adding a player who can specialize in defense a bit more might be necessary. Or the team could go with one less point guard since players like James and Butler can run the offense. And it's possible the team will either go with three true centers or two centers and a third player who can handle the position in smaller lineups.
No matter what route Team USA chooses, they will be absolutely loaded. Anything less than a gold medal would be an epic failure for a collection of talent this impressive.