Has the World Closed the Gap in regards to USA Basketball?
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Posted By: Jordan Davis on February 08, 2024 “Team USA is no longer assured of winning when it takes the court.” says the late Kobe Bryant in August of 2019, now 4 years later and it seems the Lakers legend was spot on as Team USA is reeling on the heels of a startling exit out of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup that left the United States without a medal for the first time since 2002. Many domestically and globally have begun wondering just how much of a grip the United States still has on Basketball’s dominance worldwide. “Team USA just didn’t have enough size” says Hall of Fame NBA reporter Brian Windhorst after their 113-111 loss to Germany, a surprising statement to hear despite its truthfulness because historically, the United States is thought to have a surplus of everything when it comes to our basketball team in the world games. Coaching certainly wasn’t or at least shouldn’t have been an issue as the assistants on the staff are 2-time NBA Champion Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat, 1-time NBA Champion Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers and College Basketball Hall of Fame coach of the Gonzaga Bulldogs Mark Few sitting behind 4-time NBA Champion of the Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr who despite it being his first time in the Team USA head coaching seat, has sat as an assistant when the team was successful before most notably in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics when Team USA took home Gold. Many Questions have began to be asked about maybe the youth of this years team being the achilles heel that did them in, but one of the German players who played a huge part in Team USA’s elimination is Orlando Magic Forward Franz Wagner who’s only 22 years old, which would only be the 2nd youngest player Team USA has after his own teammate for the Magic in the NBA Paolo Banchero who’s 20. From this, there has been much speculation and optimism that the Americans will be back with a vengeance in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Shams Charania, a trusted source for basketball domestically and globally just 3 days has reported that Cavaliers, Heat and now Lakers Hall of Famer LeBron James wants to ‘’represent Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics and is spearheading a group of future Hall of Famers- including Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant” who are prepared to commit. Charania has also reported that James has spoken to Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Draymond Green, Devin Booker, Kyrie Irving, and Damian Lillard as well who all have “serious” interest in joining, but it does leave the thought that with LeBron entering his 21 NBA season and will be 39 at the time of the Paris games, along with Curry, 35 and Durant, 34 respectively, how much longer will the United States have even the perceived stranglehold on world basketball that we're thought of having? While all great players in their own right, the only players rumored to be on next year's team that are in their 20s are Tatum, 25 and Booker, 27. Neither age is that much different from some of the players on the team that lost just this very year. With Serbia’s own Nikola Jokic winning this years NBA Championship for the Denver Nuggets, while in the very same year Cameroon born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers won the league's MVP and 2 years before that Greece’s own Giannis Antetokounmpo won back to back MVPs and an NBA title for his Milwaukee Bucks it does leave the question of “are we seeing the last of the American born player dominance over the rest of the World” to be a valid one to ask and maybe even the better question is: Has the World quite possibly surpassed the United States? If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Jordan Davis
Camera Operator, Journalist, Broadcaster, and Host, University of the District of Columbia University of the District of Columbia class of 2025 Member Since February 2024 |
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