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As it had done several times in the past, the United States' men's basketball team definitely did not dominate the 2024 Olympics, signaling that the rest of the world is catching up to the American powerhouse. And that could spell bad news for Team USA in 2028, when they try to defend their title on home soil.
Although the Americans still won Olympic gold, they had to squeak by Serbia in the semifinals before similarly edging out France in the gold-medal game. With both teams expected to still be rather competitive or even better in 2028, as well as the potential of another contender like Canada, Richard Jefferson has a hot take for Team USA's chances in 2028.
“The US will not win gold in LA in three years,” Jefferson said on the ‘Road Trippin' podcast. “You asked for a hot take… I’m not trying to piss people off. Did you see it took a Herculean effort for us — it took our greatest basketball players for us to beat a team that had one All-Star in Serbia and had no All-Stars in France. So for us to say without KD, without LeBron, without Embiid, without The Avengers, we would not have won the gold medal!”
In addition to the lack of perceived iconic talent on the Americans' side, Jefferson pointed to the French, in particular, as an increasingly tough opponent at the 2028 Olympics.
“If you look at a more developed Wemby, if you look at [Zaccharie] Risacher, you look at some of these younger players coming up from France over the next three to four years. I think France, in my opinion, when you talk about — not that they have the best basketball players in the world — can they field a team of 12 players, France, in three to four years that will be on par with the US? Not collectively, the basketball talent, we're talking about the team.”
It's hard to argue with the idea that Team USA might not win gold in Los Angeles, particularly if France and the typically talented-yet-underperforming Canada come to play in 2028.
Jefferson also knows all too well what it's like to be a part of a team that doesn't live up to the sky-high expectations placed upon Team USA; he was part of the infamous 2004 team that earned bronze in Athens, which prompted a complete reorganization of the Olympic program and led to the Redeem Team in 2008.
