Depth: The Journey of the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team to the Paris Olympics Began Months Ago, or Even Earlier—Winning the Gold Medal Was Not Their Primary Goal

On August 11, the U.S. men’s basketball team achieved its goal and won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics as expected.

In fact, the story of this team’s formation can be traced back even further, all the way to last year’s FIBA World Cup.

Last summer, although the U.S. team at the World Cup of Basketball was not as star-studded as it is now, in terms of market value and fame, they were still in a league of their own among participating teams. However, the result was that the team only managed a fourth-place finish.

The teams that finished ahead of them were Canada (third place), Serbia (second place), and Germany (champions).

After this event, many headlines in major media outlets discussed topics such as “The United States’ position as the world’s basketball powerhouse is once again under threat,” and “The world order of basketball is being rewritten.”

According to sources close to the matter, these events deeply hurt LeBron James, who immediately decided to join the U.S. men’s basketball team for the Paris Olympics and planned to bring some superstar teammates with him.

Actually, before James, the first person to respond was Kevin Durant. In an interview, he mentioned a specific time point: “When I was playing for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2022-23 season, I knew I wanted to participate in the Olympics. At that time, (U.S. team general manager) Grant Hill and (head coach) Steve Kerr came to Brooklyn and invited me to participate in the World Cup. I promised them I would play in the 2024 Olympics.”

Then, Durant received a text message from James.

“Last summer, LeBron sent a text asking who I thought should join the team and whether I would participate. At that moment, I knew we would all come together because it was a special occasion.”

“I knew Curry would participate. He had never played in the Olympics before. He had won the World Championship, but he wanted an Olympic gold medal. So there was no doubt about it, especially when both James and Curry committed to participating. Once the team was formed, I knew it would be something special.”

Curry’s Olympic story is another version. He has achieved much in the NBA – four championships, two MVPs, the NBA record for three-pointers made, etc. – but his highest achievement with the national team was winning the championship at the 2010 (Turkey) and 2014 (Spain) FIBA World Cups. These achievements are certainly commendable, but Americans have always viewed international competition as placing greater importance on the Olympics than other events. After the Warriors defeated Boston in 2022, Curry publicly admitted for the first time that he hoped to win an Olympic gold medal.

“In 2022, when we returned from Boston, I joked with (Kerr) that this was the only thing I hadn’t done. That was basically when I committed to wanting to participate in the Paris Olympics.”

“Then last September, watching the World Cup, I realized this was something I hadn’t achieved yet. I felt healthy and capable of doing it, so that’s what I wanted to do. As Durant said, everyone started sending texts, and information about playing for the U.S. team began circulating.” Curry said in an interview in Paris.

Soon, after eleven months, the team was assembled. But age catches up with everyone; by this summer’s Olympic games, James was 39 years old, Curry was 36, and Durant was 35.

So during the warm-up games, Joel Embiid made a statement that couldn’t be refuted.

“Most of the talented players on the U.S. team are getting older. The LeBron of today is not the LeBron of a few years ago. So the difference is significant. Everyone will tell you, and you can see for yourself, that the LeBron of today is not the same athletic, dominant LeBron of a few years ago. I think people are fooled by the names on paper. But those reputations were built over their careers, and now they’re getting old. They’re not the same as they used to be.”

But despite the opportunity to create beautiful memories at the end of their careers, they still showed incredible performances on this stage, and everyone put past potential rivalries and relationship issues aside.

Fast forward to the night of the victory, someone asked James which of the Olympic gold medals he had won meant the most to him?

“I think (this one) is the best because it’s here and now,” he replied. “Of course, the ‘Redemption Team’ (2008) was also very meaningful – you know, because before that, we had a few years where we didn’t perform as well as we should. So in 2008, our ‘Redemption Team’ came back, and in 2012, we did great and won in London.”

However, the significance of the gold medal won by this U.S. team of LeBron, Curry, and Durant goes beyond the medal itself.

On one hand, they proved that even if there was competition and confrontation, they could work together and make sacrifices for a common goal. During the Olympics this year, James didn’t hesitate to praise his main rivals in the NBA, Curry and Durant.

“Yes, you can only marvel at his performance, it’s really amazing,” James said when asked about Curry. Then someone asked him about his thoughts on Durant.

“KD?” James replied. “KD is one of the greatest players of all time. I mean, just look at his figure, look at his skills. He is one of the best basketball players we’ve ever seen.”

On the other hand, they used their remaining personal charm to get many young players to start valuing the national team again.

As James said before the final, the reality of this stage of their careers is that you can’t predict how many more times you’ll fight for a big goal. James’ Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs last season, as were Durant’s Suns. Curry’s Warriors were even eliminated after being knocked out by the Sacramento Kings and didn’t make it to the playoffs.

If they don’t achieve anything else on the basketball court from now on, what they left behind this time will be one of the greatest legacies in history.

“It’s everything I imagined and more,” Curry said. “These guys in the locker room, we all have a mission to continue the dominance of U.S. basketball. Of course, I understand that this will be a very difficult task. We will face some great teams, and at the end, there will be a sense of relief, but more importantly, a sense of accomplishment. Clearly, we know what we can achieve.”

This summer, Anthony Edwards took an important step towards becoming one of the greats. Jason Tatum and Anthony Davis both clearly expressed their interest in competing in Los Angeles in 2028. Tyrese Haliburton still has the prospect of playing for the national team in the future. Ja Morant is also a potential member of the national team. Cooper Flagg, likely to be the No. 1 draft pick in 2025, may also appear in the national team in four years.

However, all of these are things for the future, with many uncertainties. But one thing is certain: the U.S. team will face France again (especially Wembanyama).

“Honestly, (in the gold medal game), I expected more. We once again proved that we can beat the U.S. team, but you have to play a perfect game, and we didn’t manage that,” said Vincent Collet, who has coached the French team for 15 years. “But I really believe that if we had done a little more, we could have put more pressure on them. Well, we didn’t do that. But we weren’t too far off. I believe we can do better… They dominate the game because they have a real advantage in individual talent.”

In 2028, in Los Angeles, the men’s basketball gold medal may once again become the focus of contention.