Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James speaks early Saturday, June 10, 2017, in Cleveland after the Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 137-116 in Game 4 of basketball’s NBA Finals. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
LeBron James knows who his dream teammates would be in a 3-on-3 competition at the 2020 Olympics — Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
Jordan and Johnson’s names came to James without any hesitation when asked by The Associated Press which past greats he would like to play with. The Cavaliers star was a bit more reserved when he came to picking present day players.
“I don’t know, I have to think about it,” James said.
Not that James — or Magic or Michael — is participating.
James didn’t think he would consider playing in the new Olympic event in the Tokyo Games, but is happy it was added.
“It’s great for basketball,” he said. “For us to be able to add another category to the Olympics, another basketball category, I think it’s pretty great. I haven’t seen the full layout of how they plan on executing it … are they going to use NBA guys, are they going to use college guys. I’m not quite sure.
“I’m not very good in a 3-on-3 thing. I’m more of a 5-on-5 guy. I stay out of the 1-on-1 matchups during our practice, the 2-on-2 and the 3-on-3s. So probably not. I probably won’t be a part of the 3-on-3 matchup.”
The new Olympic event was added Friday by the International Olympic Committee. There will be eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams competing. As far as what teams are selected and how teams qualify, that’s still unclear.
“They don’t want just the basketball powers to compete in 3-on-3,” said USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley. “FIBA will get together and figure out how teams will qualify. They will definitely want to reward countries that have been doing a lot of 3-on-3 activities.”
The U.S. has been pushing 3-on-3 over the past few years and held a national tournament last month. The winners will head to the World Cup in France later this month.
“The last few years, we have made a major push in 3-on-3 basketball with our nationwide Dew NBA 3X tour and several international 3-on-3 competitions. The Olympic stage will provide these elite athletes with the opportunity to further demonstrate their talents,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said.
It’s also unclear if the NBA will even allow its players to compete, which is just fine with Draymond Green.
“I grew up playing street ball so to have 3-on-3 a part of the Olympics I think it’s also something guys can win that are not pro athletes,” The Golden State Warriors forward said. “So I think that could be really good. You see in these other sports where they go compete in the Olympics but they have regular day jobs. I think that can be like that for 3-on-3. So I think that can be great.”