Team USA basketball came into the 2024 Olympics as the presumed favorite for the gold medal. So far, they are 2-0 during the group stage of play with the chance to win the group outright should they defeat Puerto Rico on Saturday. But how good is this iteration of Team USA? According to former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal, there's a catch. During a recent episode of his podcast, ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq,' Shaq said he's not impressed if they don't win each game by at least 20 points.
“20, if you don't win by 20, I'm not impressed, because just think about it,” Shaquille O'Neal said. “You got the best players in the world on one team. If they win, they're supposed to win. But if they don't win by 20, people are going to talk about them.”
Team USA has played two games so far during the group stage of the Olympics. They defeated Serbia, 110-84. They beat South Sudan, 103-86. According to Shaq, only the game against Serbia was impressive.
Shaq did play in the Olympics for Team USA in 1996. That was the team that followed the Dream Team in 1992. The world has changed quite a bit since Shaq was still roaming the paint. Overseas talent has gotten better with many stars from other countries currently playing in the NBA.
This past season, the top four players in the MVP voting were all foreign players in Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokoumpo. Only Doncic is not currently participating in the Olympics as Slovenia did not qualify.
Team USA still the favorite to win gold at the Olympics
But even with the rest of the world ‘catching up' so to speak to Team USA in basketball, the United States is still the favorite to win the gold medal at the Olympics mostly because as Shaq said, they have the biggest collection of talent.
It's getting that talent to play together and in sync with one another that is the key. Other countries kind of have an advantage in that sense in that they are more familiar with one another due to playing together more frequently. But at the end of the day, talent still matters and Team USA has the most of that.
The last time that Team USA failed to win a gold medal at the Olympics was in 2004. Since then, they've won four straight gold medals in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020/21. But with more NBA talent playing for their home countries, Team USA's place in the world basketball hierarchy is a discussion worth having.
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