They call him The Truth, but former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce just raised a lot of eyebrows with his recent hot take about the 2024 Team USA and the 1992 Dream Team. For Pierce, the United States men's basketball team that's currently competing in Paris would beat the 1992 squad that blew away the competition in the Barcelona Olympics.
“This [2024 Olympic Team] would dominate the [1992] team,” Pierce said during Tuesday's airing of Undisputed.
Pierce tried to support his argument by also pointing out that in 1992, both fellow Celtics legend Larry Bird and Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson were in the twilight years of their careers. That may be true, but Pierce can't say the same about the other guys on that 1992 unit. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson plus a guy named Michael Jordan were all at their primes at the time.
Pierce then tried to theorize individual matchups, implying that Golden State Warriors superstar sniper Stephen Curry would be too much to handle for John Stockton. Now, Stockton did not have size and athleticism, but he was well known for being among the toughest players ever, and there's a reason why he is still the NBA's all-time leader in steals by a huge margin.
“Who's gonna guard LeBron? Style of play would have been too much for this Dream Team… Who's gonna guard Steph Curry? John Stockton?”
At the end of the day, there is no definitive answer to this type of debate because one would need a time machine to settle such an argument once and for all.
Team USA off to a strong start in Paris
What Pierce can't afford to happen — if he is to continue sticking to his point that the 2024 Team USA is better than the 1992 Dream Team — is LeBron James and company taking a stumble in Paris. One loss and his argument will be thrown into the wastebasket.
That said, Team USA just flexed its muscles in a dominant victory over Serbia over the weekend. Against the fifth-ranked team in the world, the Americans leaned on the pair of James and Kevin Durant. James provided 21 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists for Team USA in the 110-84 victory, while Durant lit up Serbia for 23 points on 8/9 shooting from the floor, including five triples in less than 17 minutes of work on the court.
Team USA can go 2-0 with another win this Wednesday against the upset-seeking South Sudan.
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