The 2024 Paris Olympics are right around the corner and Team USA basketball is a heavy favorite to win gold. That's much in part due to their star-studded roster headlined by Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, among many others.
Ahead of the tournament, Curry revealed that former president Barack Obama, who is a close friend and a massive hoops fan, sent a message to the US squad before their pursuit of gold.
Via Ben Golliver:
On Tuesday, Obama gave a lengthy speech in Las Vegas explaining what it means to represent the United States and expressed confidence in Team USA winning it all:
“I’m pretty confident that they’re going to be bringing back the gold and representing us the way we should be represented around the world,” said Obama.
“I just want to come here to obviously help send off the soon-to-be gold-medal winners,” the former president said.
“But I want to come by and say thank you to the legends who have represented USA Basketball and America for 50 years now,” he continued.
Obama played a lot of pick-up hoops during his college days in Chicago and has spoken with Steph on numerous occasions about basketball and political matters. The two have a strong relationship.
Team USA group at Olympics
The United States took care of Canada in an exhibition on Wednesday and will head to Abu Dhabi and London before landing in Paris for the Olympics. The Americans are in Group C with South Sudan, Puerto Rico, and Serbia. It's probably one of the easier pods of the three and Steve Kerr's squad should finish in top spot.
The roster is full of All-Star talent from top to bottom. Aside from Steph, Bron, and KD, we have guys like Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, and even Joel Embiid, who recently became an American citizen.
Team USA will play some respectable opponents in Abu Dhabi and London. Serbia, South Sudan, Australia, and Germany are on the schedule. The States then begin their Olympics journey on July 28th against the Serbs in Lille, France.
Kerr's group did look a little bit sloppy at times versus Canada, but they ultimately figured it out and won by 14. The Golden State Warriors head coach liked what he saw considering they've had minimal practice time together so far:
“It's a good first game for us,” Kerr said. “We're really just getting started – four days of practice. You could see the rust on the offensive end (and) a lot of turnovers in that first half especially. But I love the defensive intensity and the work on the glass.
“So, it was a good first effort, and we needed to set a tone for how we want to play and I think we did that.”
Durant never played because of a sore calf, while Kawhi Leonard just opted out. He's since been replaced with Derrick White of the Boston Celtics.
We'll see if Team USA can live up to expectations and get it done this summer in Paris. All eyes will be on them.
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