Team USA’s men’s basketball team is facing some of the best national teams at the Paris Olympics 2024. As a result of the ever-improving basketball scenario across the globe, some teams can upset the favorites. However, former NBA Hall of Famer and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Charles Barkley dismissed that notion.
The former league MVP was a guest on Podcast P with Paul George in their latest episode. While talking about Team USA and their competition at these Olympics, Barkley said:
There’s never an excuse for the United States not to win a gold medal. We got the best team, we got the best players, by far. Listen, if they lose, we can’t let ’em back in the country. We can’t. I told ’em, they can’t come back.
Charles Barkley on Podcast P
He acknowledged that the competition is way better than what it used to be. But it still is not an excuse to not win the gold medal.
His logic does warrant some thought. Ever since Charles Barkley and his 1992 Dream Team won the gold medal, it set the standard. A standard where the USA continuously has shown the world that they are the best basketball nation.
If Team USA men’s basketball misses out on gold in the Olympics, Charles Barkley believes they shouldn’t be allowed back in the country 😭@ATT pic.twitter.com/wfeCDbVpCN
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) August 5, 2024
This year, he is right on the point when saying that none of the teams have the depth of talent that Team USA enjoys. Therefore, it would be an embarrassment if they lost the gold medal. No wonder he issued that stern warning.
Team USA has a choice of going with All-NBA players on the bench
Among the final few teams in the knockout stages, some of them have players who are superstars in the NBA. But almost all of them are in the starting lineup. Therefore, their bench is usually made up of NBA roles players or European league stars. That itself shows the gulf of talent between the rest and Team USA.
For instance, however, head coach Steve Kerr assembles his starting lineup, there are bound to be All-NBA players on the bench. He can literally choose one or the other depending on what the game or a situation in a game requires. That is a luxury that no other team has in the entire Paris Olympics 2024, except the Team USA women’s basketball team.
There is one aspect that no one has talked about so far, and that is the growing chemistry between the league rivals. Now, they seem to have a cohesion that is helping stars play half a game at the max. That chemistry will go a long way in dominating their way to a gold medal, and make Charles Barkley proud.
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