Team USA has just finished an undefeated run of tune-up games leading into the 2023 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup. It's been over 30 years since professional basketball players in the United States were first allowed to play on the international stage. While the United States has been the best country in the world at basketball since then, they are not the defending FIBA Champions.
Spain is currently the reining tournament champion, so what happened back in 2019? If Team USA has had the best basketball players in the world eligible to play since the 1990s, why haven't they taken home the gold medal in every FIBA World Cup tournament?
Here's a look at Team USA's history at the FIBA World Cup, dating all the way back to 1950.
Team USA in the 1950s
1950: Won silver medal
1954: Won gold medal
1959: Won silver medal*
*Finished second in 1959 due to the Soviet Union forfeiting one of their games
The FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup was initially the FIBA World Championship. For simplicity, we'll use the modern name from here on out, but there are a lot of naming, tournament format, and geopolitical quirks in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Back in the 1950s, and through 1992, the only basketball players representing Team USA were amateur athletes. This didn't matter much in the early 1950s, though, especially considering communist countries were not invited to participate.
The amateurs still showed out in the 50s for Team USA, winning the second FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup held in 1954. They also finished second in both the first and third tournaments in 1950 and 1959, respectively. However, they only earned the silver medal because the Soviet team was relegated due to forfeiting one of their games.
Team USA in the 1960s
1963: 4th place
1967: 4th place, tiebreaker loss
The 1960s were not kind to Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. This was partly due to the rules favoring athletes that could retain their amateur status despite training full-time in many communist countries.
In both World Cups in the 1960s, Team USA ended up just off the podium with fourth-place finishes in both. The 1967 tournament was especially heartbreaking, as it saw them on the wrong side of a three-way tie for second, third and fourth.
Team USA in the 1970s
1970: 5th place
1974: Won bronze medal
1978: 5th place
Unfortunately for Team USA, the 1970s were eerily similar to the 1960s in FIBA competitions. This may be the most forgettable period in FIBA World Cup history for the United States.
The 1970 tournament started off perfectly in group stages, as USA Basketball won their first three games. They then finished the tournament with three straight losses in the final round, removing any possibility to medal. This was a very embarrassing fifth-place finish.
The 1974 tournament provided a brief “rebound,” no pun intended, when Team USA made it to the semifinals. They then lost to the Soviet Union before taking the bronze medal.
More disappointment came in this decade for Team USA, as the 1978 tournament marked another low point. They limped to the end of the event with a 3-4 record in the final round after a solid showing in the group stages. While they did rally to win the fifth-place playoff, this year was very underwhelming.
Team USA in the 1980s
1982: Won silver medal
No one around Team USA wanted a repeat of 1978's disastrous performance. However, a loss to the Soviet Union in the 1982 final may not have felt any better despite coming home with a medal.
A young Doc Rivers led another United States squad of amateurs into battle. This time, they found more success than they did at any other FIBA tournament. An early-stage loss to Spain didn't stop them from qualifying for the semifinal round, and Team USA went on to win three-straight games, including one over the USSR, to make it to the finals. There though, they lost by just a single point in heartbreaking fashion.
However, this did mark a pivotal moment in USA Basketball history, as they signaled to the rest of the world that they were back for the first time in a very long time.
1986: Won gold medal
After their first World Cup title in 1954, Team USA were finally champions again 32 years later. The Americans were lights-out in this tournament, as they were led by David Robinson and Kenny Smith. Steve Kerr, who is now the head coach of the national team, was also on this roster.
They ended the tournament having defeated each of the three other teams that made the semifinals. Team USA also won gold against the Soviet Union, earning revenge for what occurred four years prior. Their lone loss came in a strange 74-70 game against Argentina, a team that did not even finish inside the Top 5 of the event.
Team USA in the 1990s
1990: Won bronze medal
Although this would be the last major international competition without NBA players getting to participate, the amateurs showed out. Led by Kenny Anderson and a young Alonzo Mourning, Team USA sailed through the first group round and into the quarterfinals round. There they played three tight games, defeating Argentina and Australia. They did however lose to Puerto Rico.
Advancing to the semifinals, this team ultimately fell short against Yugoslavia, losing 99-91. They did however get revenge against Puerto Rico, defeating them 107-105 in overtime to win the bronze medal.
1994: Won gold medal
The 1992 “Dream Team” at the Olympics marked the first time professional basketball in the United States players could play in international competitions. The 1994 FIBA World Cup saw “The Dream Team II,” which was the second significant occasion NBA players were able to represent their country.
While Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were not on this team, the 1994 squad was highlighted by Shaquille O'Neal, Shawn Kemp, Dominique Wilkins, Reggie Miller, and Alonzo Mourning. The Dream Team II hammered their competition and they finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record. No team came close to taking them down, as they finished off their gold medal run with two elimination game victories, winning 97-58 over Greece and 137-91 over Russia.
1998: Won bronze medal
NBA players were locked out in 1998, meaning this Team USA group was led by professional player who were playing abroad. Expectations for this squad differed from those set for the Dream Team and Dream Team II of the previous decade, but the Americans held their own.
Despite only qualifying second out of the preliminary group round after losing to Lithuania, they won three straight in the second group round to finish at the top of the standings. Most notably, they barely pulled out a 75-73 win over previously undefeated Spain to ensure a top finish. They then went on to barely defeat Italy 80-77 in the quarterfinals.
However, in the semifinals, their tendency to play tight games began to catch up to them, as the U.S. fell 64-62 to Russia. USA Basketball went on to defeat Greece for the bronze medal.
Team USA in the 2000s
2002: 6th place, lost in quarterfinals to Yugoslavia
Team USA in 2002 had to feel like they were entering the FIBA World Cup with something to prove. This team had the high-end talent that the 1998 team lacked. Reggie Miller, Jermaine O'Neal, Paul Pierce, and Ben Wallace anchored this squad, but they never got going.
Breezing through the preliminary group round, the United States finished second in the second group stage, dropping a tight game to Argentina. Although they blew everyone else out, they got stuck playing Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals. After losing two surprising games in the previous round to finish third in their group, the eventual champions defeated Team USA 91-78 behind the efficiency of Peja Stojaković and Vlade Divac.
2006: Won bronze medal
Team USA came back stronger than ever in 2006, as finishing without a medal was unacceptable. This 2006 team featured LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony, which is why they were the favorites heading into the tournament.
Finishing 5-0 in the group stage and +115 on their opponents, they breezed into the next round. USA then defeated Australia and Germany in the first two knockout rounds. However, they were shocked by Greece in the semifinals, losing 101-95.
While they didn't win gold, this set the stage for what was to come. LeBron, Wade and Bosh, three eventual teammates, entered the 2008 Olympic Games as “The Redeem Team,” a group that seized the gold medal.
Team USA in the 2010s
2010: Won gold medal
Up until 2010, Team USA had not won gold at the FIBA world Cup since 1994. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose highlighted a squad with plenty of NBA talents, including a very young Stephen Curry.
Team USA did not miss a beat through their opening group stage games and they entered the bracket with a stellar 5-0 record in Group B play. Their point differential was +124 through the group stage and nothing changed in the knockout rounds. They did survive a relatively tough test from Russia in the quarterfinals, winning 89-79, but that was as close as any team would get to the United States.
Durant poured it on when it mattered most, finishing the last three games of the tournament with 33, 38, and 28-point performances to power Team USA to the gold medal. He went on to be named the tournament's MVP.
2014: Won gold medal
In 2014 Team USA rolled up to the FIBA Men's World Cup with one thing on their mind: repeating as champions.
Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Anthony Davis made sure to make this possible, as they led a team with exponentially more talent than anyone else. No team had the firepower the United States did, regardless of whether or not any individual star played well or poorly. Their closest game across the World Cup was a 98-77 blowout win over Turkey in the group stages.
In the championship, they defeated Serbia 129-92 to capture the gold medal. This 2014 team had a couple of moments where games were closer than they would have liked, but that did not matter when the second half rolled around. This was a dominant Team USA showing and one this year's squad will likely take inspiration from.
2019: Lost in quarterfinals to France
In 2019, Team USA saw the most surprising result at the FIBA World Cup in modern history when they lost a stunning quarterfinal against France. The Americans came into the tournament with a solid team, stacked with many of the NBA's youngest stars.
However, they lacked the high-end star power of the 2010 and 2014 teams. Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell led this squad, which had the highest ceiling in the tournament, but these two did not do anything in the final minutes of their quarterfinal matchup.
USA Basketball breezed through the group stages, going a combined 8-0 in rounds one and two. Entering their quarterfinal game against France on a 58-game winning streak across FIBA and Olympic competitions, Team USA was unable to hold onto their 74-67 lead with just under eight minutes to go. They were outscored 22-5 in the final seven and a half minutes, only to lose the game 89-79.
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