USA Basketball finalizes official Olympic playing roster

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

USA Basketball is near completing its official playing roster for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics that will kick off from July 26 to August 11, 2024.

According to NBA veteran insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Team USA is done hand-picking 11 of the 12 players that will fly to Paris and will seek to restore their lost glory after failing to win a medal during the last edition of the FIBA World Cup.

With all setting their sights on what Team USA will bring this Olympics, Wojnarowski unveiled the 11 players selected by USA Basketball.

Leading the way for Team USA are former Olympic gold medalists LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, and Jayson Tatum.

Stephen Curry, the All-Time three-point leader in the NBA, also made the list and is hoping to win his first-ever Olympic gold medal.

Joining the national team for the Olympics is a thing that Curry hasn’t done despite winning multiple NBA championship titles. He represented USA on the FIBA global stage when he was still a rising star in the league and delivered two titles last 2010 and 2014.

Also included in the roster are Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards, the 1-2 punch that headlined the young and talented Team USA squad that participated in the FIBA World Cup.

Last but not the least, USA Basketball also put Philadelphia 76ers’ franchise player Joel Embiid on the official roster.

As early as October 5, 2023, several players from the named roster already expressed their commitment to playing for Team USA.

“If all things stay the same, I want to be playing. It’s the one thing I haven’t done and I also understand the opportunity for Team USA to kind of re-assert yourselves as the most dominant in the world,” Curry said.