Last Friday, LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers stirred up rumors about his potential participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as a member of Team USA. SportsCenter shared an Instagram post featuring a lineup graphic developed by The Dunk Central, which includes other famous players such as Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, and Kawhi Leonard.
LeBron James has hinted that he may participate in the Olympic games by responding to a post with a “considering” emoji. Even though James has previously won gold medals in 2008 and 2012, he chose not to compete in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Team USA’s loss to Germany in the 2023 FIBA World Cup sparked the creation of the Olympic post since they cannot win the World Cup for two consecutive years. In 2019, the United States finished ninth at the FIBA World Cup, which was their worst finish ever. However, they redeemed themselves and won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Even though the United States was a favorite to win the FIBA World Cup, none of the star players were on the team. The Olympic roster in 2020 had more stars, but key players such as James, Curry, Leonard, Butler, and Davis did not participate. The Dunk Central posed a hypothetical team that could be considered the most similar to the 1992 Dream Team.
At present, it remains uncertain whether James, who is presently 38 years old, will participate in the Olympics till 2028, when he will be 43, making this performance potentially his last one. However, Team USA could certainly benefit from having LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time highest scorer and arguably the world’s best player, on their team. While they have managed to maintain their top position in basketball without him at the last two Olympics, there is no denying that having him onboard would make them an even more formidable and well-rounded team.
