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Recently, LeBron James and the Team USA national squad took home the Gold Medal with a resounding win over France at the Olympics in Paris. In order to get to that point, however, Team USA had to endure several close calls from other Olympics squads, including surviving a nailbiter vs South Sudan and having to overcome a 17-point deficit vs Serbia in the semifinal round.
Despite the gold medal victory, there could be no doubting after the tournament was over that the rest of the world is now officially closer than ever before to the United States in terms of talent, especially considering that the squad that Team USA trotted out consisted almost exclusively of future Hall of Famers.
However, one person who isn't worried about the future prospects of Team USA is former NBA MVP Shaquille O'Neal, per his own The Big Podcast.
“I'm not even paying attention to the Olympics… [My cousin] said, ‘The world was getting close.' I don't think it is. The fact that [USA Basketball won] 97-95, you only beat South Sudan by one [possession]. Come on, bro,” said O'Neal.
What does the future of Team USA basketball hold?
It's highly likely that the arguable three biggest contributors to this year's Team USA basketball championship run–LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant–will not be back for the next Summer Olympics, which are slated for 2028 in Los Angeles.
James, Durant, and Curry will all be over the age of 40 by the time those games roll around, and the NBA currently has a new generation of American stars that figure to be key cogs on that squad.
Some of them, including Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum (depending on how scarred he is by the experience of getting benched at times this year), were on the team this year and would figure to be back for the next go around.
Meanwhile, upcoming NBA talents like Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic and Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers also could be in the driver's seat to land selections for that squad.
It's worth considering that the gap between the United States and the world will probably be even narrower by that point, as French phenom Victor Wembanyama could very well be an all-time great by that point in time, in addition to the immense talent in other countries.
In any case, if this was the last Olympics run for Durant, Curry, and LeBron, it was a sight to behold.
