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The Team USA men’s basketball roster has reportedly begun taking shape for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum are among the players considered to be “locks” to make the roster, barring injury.
That group of players already features one of the greatest collections of talent in international basketball history. James, Durant, Curry and Embiid are all former NBA MVPs, and Tatum is among the favorites to take home the award this season.
In addition to those five players, it was reported that Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday is expected to be a member of the 12-man roster. Holiday reportedly was a coveted player who USA Basketball had been pursuing “for much of the NBA season,” and he is believed to have given his commitment to USAB officials “in recent weeks.”
“Team officials have valued Holiday’s two-way ability, point-of-attack defense and dynamic playmaking,” Charania and Vardon stated. “Holiday was considered Team USA’s second-most important player behind Kevin Durant on the gold-medal-winning team in Tokyo in 2021.”
Charania and Vardon also reported that, barring injury, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker is also expected to be part of Team USA’s “core.” Per Charania and Vardon, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are also being given strong consideration.
Team USA will be seeking its fifth straight gold medal in Paris and 17th overall. The team will be led by Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who took over after serving as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in Tokyo.
Kerr’s staff is rounded out by Los Angeles Clipper head coach Tyronn Lue, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. In his first taste of leading the national team, Kerr coached Team USA to a fourth-place finish in the 2023 FIBA Men’s World Cup this past summer.
With so much talent already on the roster and more on the way, Kerr and company will have a strong chance of achieving a better finish in Paris.