Home basketball Superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry Set to Dominate Team USA’s 2024 Olympics Roster

Superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry Set to Dominate Team USA’s 2024 Olympics Roster

basketball — 04/16/2024

LAS VEGAS, NV - AUGUST 12: LeBron James and Stephen Curry of USA Mens National Team participates in minicamp at UNLV on August 12, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The United States will bring an absolutely stacked roster to the 2024 Paris Games this summer.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon, Team USA has reportedly finalized 11 of its 12 roster spots: Golden State’s Steph Curry, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Phoenix’s Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday, Philly’s Joel Embiid, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards and Miami’s Bam Adebayo.

The United States could still bring a 12th player, with a strong pool of potential candidates.

Charania and Vardon reported that “Kawhi Leonard is the leading candidate for the USA vacancy with Paul George, Paolo Banchero, Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson also under consideration. Leonard, a favorite to make the team of both Durant and James, is battling a knee injury and his status for the start of the playoffs with the L.A. Clippers is unknown.”

As of now, however, the depth chart could look something like this:

PG: Curry / Holiday / Haliburton

SG: Booker / Edwards

SF: Durant / Tatum

PF: James / AD

C: Embiid / Adebayo

That is an obscene group of talent, though players like Holiday and Adebayo—who offer well-rounded skill sets and aren’t reliant on scoring to be impactful—will bring balance.

The United States will feature both Curry and Embiid for the first time, exciting additions to the squad, while mainstays like James and Durant will bring experience to a team that has won the past four gold medals.

The United States may be flush with talent, but the rest of the world is catching up. Team Canada could feature Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Andrew Wiggins, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Kelly Olynyk, Cory Joseph and Dwight Powell, among others. Bennedict Mathurin and Shaedon Sharpe are possibilities for that roster too.

France should have the usual suspects of Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nic Batum, while Victor Wembanyama would provide the country with a huge bump. Nikola Jokić will headline Team Serbia.

There will be plenty of talented teams, but no country boasts the top-to-bottom star power of Team USA. Players like Tatum or Edwards would be the best players for most countries, and that duo could feasibly come off the bench for the United States.

The Americans haven’t been infallible at the Olympics, failing to win gold in 1972 (silver), 1988 and 2004 (both bronze). But the team has claimed the top prize in 16 of the 19 Olympics it has participated in.

Those are the expectations. The roster more than justifies them.