USA Basketball Team: “The Avengers”

Heading into the 2024 Paris Olympics, Team USA’s men's basketball team had won four gold medals in a row and were highly favored to continue the streak. This year, the squad had lots of noticeable names on their roster, such as point guard Steph Curry, small forward LeBron James, and power forward Kevin Durant. However, although they had a very talented roster, their competition was arguably higher than ever before. Serbia had three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic; Greece had the “Greek Freak” power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo; Slovenia had point guard Luka Doncic; Canada had point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; and France had 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year center Victor Wembanyama. Altogether, there were 69 NBA players representing nations other than the United States in the Olympics.

Team USA was in Group C and played Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico in the qualifying rounds. While the team handily won all three games with a point differential of +64, they barely beat South Sudan with a game-winning buzzer-beater from James. To start the elimination rounds, Team USA crushed Brazil 122-87 with a great balanced team effort. However, winning the semifinals against Serbia was more challenging. Serbia had great performances from Jokic and shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic—another NBA player. Despite being down by 17 points in the second quarter, the team came away with the win 95-91 with a triple-double from James and a 36-point game from Curry, who went 9/14 from three. In the finals, the lineup had another tight game against France. In the first quarter, there was lots of back and forth, but the U.S. team started to pull away by the end of the second quarter. The Americans held the lead the rest of the second half, but France kept it close the whole game as former NBA power forward Guerschon Yabusele had 20 points and Wembanyama led France with 26 points. For Team USA, four out of five starters had double digits in points: Durant had 15, James had 14, shooting guard Devin Booker also had 15, and Curry had back-to-back clutch performances with 24 points and went 8/14 from three. France’s offense heated up in the last 5 minutes in a great team effort, but it didn’t matter after Curry hit four three-pointers in the final three minutes of the game. Team USA ended up defeating France 98-87.

But not only did the U.S. team win gold, they also earned themselves a nickname: The Avengers. The inspiration behind the name was that every player had incredible talent and that grouped together, they were unstoppable as a team. Some now argue that they were the greatest basketball team assembled. Even players like former MVP center Joel Embiid and 2024 NBA Finals Champion small forward Jayson Tatum didn’t have major contributions to the team—though they were the star players of their respective teams. Their competition in that category is the 1992 Dream Team with legends like shooting guard Michael Jordan, small forward Larry Bird and point guard Magic Johnson. While the 1992 Dream Team was more successful than the Avengers in terms of point differential, they faced only two NBA players throughout the whole Olympics as opposed to 69. Both teams have such talented rosters that it’s hard to say one is better than the other. For example, James and Jordan have equal support as they are both in the contest for the greatest basketball player of all time, and Johnson and Curry are thought of as the best point guards ever—Johnson being the best passer ever and Curry the best shooter. Team USA’s gold medal was especially fulfilling and satisfying considering that in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics James, Curry, and Durant likely won’t be returning.