Basketball serves as a point of pride for fans of Team USA competing internationally. Sure, maybe our national sport is football, and our national pastime is baseball, but Basketball is undoubtedly the sport Americans feel most territorial over.
Perhaps it's because USA Basketball has historically dominated international competition, especially when the rules allowed for the best of the best to participate. The United States and Yugoslavia are the only two nations to have five FIBA World Cup titles and Team USA has taken home the gold medal at the Summer Olympics an event-best 16 different times.
From country to country, there is so much parity in the basketball world and USA Basketball has not been the dominating force it's used to being. Just ask the 2004 Olympic team! Even though they took home the bronze medal in the Olympics, this was a major disappointment for the program.
Despite other countries beginning to have more and more talent, the United States has sent the most star-studded basketball teams the world has ever seen to compete in the FIBA World Cup and the Summer Olympics.
Ahead of the start of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, here is a look at the top seven Team USA Men's Basketball teams of all time.
7. 1984 Olympics
USA Men's Basketball was an Olympics anomaly for a long time. The Olympic committee's rules on amateurism, limiting professional athletes' ability to participate benefitted countries with state-sponsored amateur programs. This most notably included the Soviet Union.
It's why things like the 1980 Miracle on Ice were such a big deal. However, USA Basketball faced no such issues in the Olympics, winning the gold medal nine times in 11 tournaments their amateur athletes competed in.
One of the best teams of that era was the 1984 Olympic team. This 1984 roster was highlighted by the trio of Michael Jordan, Chris Mullen and Patrick Ewing, who would etch their name in history as basketball legends. Even when they were college players, they showed glimpses of what was to come, leading Team USA to an 8-0 record and the gold medal.
6. 2010 FIBA World Cup – “B Team”
Sitting in between Olympic triumphs in 2008 and 2012 was the 2010 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup. After the Redeem Team's victory in 2008, many of Team USA's top players opted out of the 2010 World Cup for various reasons. This left the door open for the young stars of the league to get their first taste of international action.
That roster was filled to the brim with talent that would establish itself as the face of the league in the coming half-decade. Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love and Kevin Durant played alongside one another on this team. Tyson Chandler and Lamar Odom were the veterans who held things together on the inside.
This team ended up walking through their competition, going 5-0 in group play and rattling off four more wins en route to the title. Kevin Durant went on to win the tournament MVP honors after leading Team USA in scoring in their three final knockout games. No team lost by less than 10 points to the United States.
5. 2012 Olympics
The 2012 Men's Basketball Olympic team featured five members from the 2008 and 2010 squads, plus a handful of new faces. They ran smaller lineups, but outpaced and outgunned their opponents on their way to am 8-0 record and a gold medal. They even had a 32-point average margin of victory!
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love were the NBA All-Stars that highlighted this stacked team. Oh, and they only trailed in the fourth quarter once, as this team played a tight one against Spain in the final, winning 107-100.
Durant, of course, provided the spark with his 30-point, nine-rebound performance claiming the gold medal for Team USA.
4. 1994 FIBA World Cup – “The Dream Team II”
When the 1994 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup rolled around, Team USA decided to revamp their roster from the 1992 “Dream Team,” who we will touch on them a little bit later. Despite having new faces wearing red, white and blue, they still went on to claim the gold medal.
A younger, less-proven generation of players headlined this team, as Shaquille O'Neal, Dominique Wilkins, Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp and Reggie Miller were the starts of the show. While it may have lacked the name recognition and mass appeal that the 1992 Olympic team had, this 1994 squad was not short on talent whatsoever.
The Dream Team II did their job and did not let their opponents come close to a victory. They punctuated their gold medal win by defeating Greece 97-58 in the semifinals, followed by dismantling Russia 137-91 in the championship game.
3. 1956 Olympics
Again, it was hard for Team USA to rely purely on amateur athletes to compete against functionally semi-pro and fully professional athletes from other countries. That's what makes Team USA's record in the Olympics so impressive. This is also why the 1956 team was special.
Led by University of San Francisco teammates and future Basketball legends Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, Team USA showed no mercy. They won all their games by an unbelievable average of 53.5 points per game and the United States beat every team by at least 30 points.
In group play, they defeated Thailand by an unfathomable score of 101-29. While not a 73-point victory, this team then went on to defeat Uruguay 101-38 in the semifinals of the tournament. Team USA was playing basketball in 1956, but it is hard to say that for these other countries after seeing these scores!
2. 2008 Olympics – “The Redeem Team”
The only time since 1992 that Team USA Men's Basketball failed to win an Olympic gold medal was in 2004. USA Basketball needed redemption and wanted to prove that they were still the best there was in the world during the 2008 Olympics. Thus, “The Redeem Team” was born.
LeBron James and Kobe Bryant were the big guns on this roster, but the entire team was littered with talent. Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams helped fill out this terrifying group, and they finished a perfect 8-0 in the tournament. The Redeem Team also defeated Spain by double-digits twice, as they went on to win the silver medal. This team was one of the greatest basketball teams every assembled and they put the United States back on top of the basketball world.
1. 1992 Olympics – “The Dream Team”
The 1992 Olympics marked the first time professional basketball players could represent the United States in international play. This also marked the last time Team USA began any tournament as anything other than the odds-on favorites to win it all.
Ahead of the 1992 Olympics in Spain, USA Basketball assembled the most extraordinary collection of talent ever put together. Legends like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing highlighted this roster, but every single player on “The Dream Team” was a star. Even their practices were legendary!
Need more information as to why this team is the greatest of all-time? 10 of the 12 players on this roster were amongst the NBA's 50th Anniversary team and they won every game they played by an averaged of 43.8 points. No game played against this USA squad was closer than 32 points.
This team won games and they did so while their opponents and the rest of the world idolized them. Coach Chuck Daly did not call a single timeout all tournament long and there are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe how thoroughly the Dream Team obliterated any obstacle they faced end route to the 1992 gold medal. This was and is still is the greatest team ever assembled, hence their name.
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