Star-studded but old Team USA to find ways to win gold

(From L) USA’s Anthony Davis, USA’s LeBron James, USA’s Derrick White and USA’s Devin Booker react in the men’s preliminary round group C basketball match between Serbia and USA during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, northern France, on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP)

On paper, no other country has the star power of Team USA’s basketball roster in the Paris Olympics.

Across the crew led by LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are 10 Olympic gold medalists. Eleven of these standouts are NBA All-Stars, four are former MVPs. The collection also features six NBA champions, which, on its own, already illustrates the wealth of talent the squad has.

How they play an official game together will be known by Monday morning (Manila time) when the Americans battle 2023 World Cup bridesmaid Serbia.

A lot are saying that age will determine the course of Team USA’s campaign—a reality that both Durant and Curry acknowledge ahead of pool play at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.

“We’re all different as we get older,” Durant said in a chat with reporters. “But the thing about greatness is that you adjust and find ways to continue to be effective.”

Of the dozen NBA stars on the roster, seven players are 30 or older. Durant is 35 and has been dealing with a calf problem going into the game against Serbia. Curry, on the other hand, is 36 while James is 39.

Durant said that the key is to adjust and adapt—something that James has done to stay as a force in the NBA to this day.

“That’s what LeBron has done at his age. [Sure,] he’s not running and jumping the same way he was when he was 25, 26 years old. But he’s still jumping pretty high, running pretty fast,” he went on. “Of course, we’re older players and we got mileage on our bodies. But we figure out ways to be effective.”

Team USA’s collective age has been thrust under the spotlight after Joel Embiid, a first-time Olympian for the United States, said in an interview with the New York Times Magazine that despite the squad’s talent, “most of those guys are older.”

Embiid—perhaps inadvertently—singled out James, saying, “LeBron now is not the LeBron that was a couple of years ago. So it’s a big difference. Everybody would also tell you, and you can see for yourself. The athletic LeBron, dominant that he was a couple of years ago, is not the same that he is now.” INQ