The NBA's summer events are all old news now that the Miami Heat have won the NBA 2k25 Summer League Championship. Veterans are wrapping up vacations while rookies prepare for the ramped-up intensity of a first professional training camp. There is no time off for several Southwest Division stars though. Jose Alvarado (Puerto Rico) and Daniel Theis (German) are two of many of the league's non-Team USA players still chasing the gold medal.
The New Orleans Pelicans will be paying attention to more than just Theis and Alvarado at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The last six NBA MVPs have been international talents. A scout never knows when an overlooked talent might pop up on the biggest stage. A front office with key contributors at risk will be watching for different reasons.
Fans of the Pelicans with a passing interest in Dyson Daniels (Australia), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Canada), and Willy Hernangomez (Spain) have some games to bide the time. Theis and Alvarado get to avoid each other in the group stages. Mostly the Crescity City crowd will be hoping to see a starting center and a healthy Alvarado at the end of the competition.
Keeping tabs on Jose Alvarado at the Olympics
The schedule for the 2024 Paris Olympics basketball tournament starts on July 27. Unfortunately, Jose Alvarado's Puerto Rico squad got the short end of the stick when it came to the Group Stage draw. Team USA and an upstart South Sudan just duked out a last-possession thriller and Serbia has NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
This will not be a pretty trip to Paris going by the betting odds and Alvarado has talked about the beatings taken in international competitions before. The good news for the Pelicans is that will give Puerto Rico's no-holds-barred point guard plenty of time to heal up before training camp.
- Sunday, July 28 vs. South Sudan 4 AM CST (CNBC)
- JT Thor, Carlik Jones, Wenyen Gabriel, Bol Bol, Thon Maker, Marial Shayok
- Wednesday, July 31 vs. Serbia, 10:15 a.m. (Peacock)
- Nikola Jokic, Vasilije Micić, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic
- Saturday, Aug. 3 vs. United States, 10:15 a.m. (NBC)
- LeBron James, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards
Daniel Theis will lead Germany through a challenging but far more manageable round-robin stage when compared to Puerto Rico's path. Germany versus France will always be a highly contentious event. The winner of that game likely gets the easiest route to the finals. Victor Wembanyama will pose more than a few problems but the Pelicans will hope to see “Theis Looking Nice” in the other two games.
- Saturday, July 27 vs. Japan 6:30 AM CST (Peacock)
- Kai Toews, Rui Hachimura, Yuta Watanabe
- Tuesday, July 30 vs. Brazil, 2:00 PM CST (Peacock)
- Didi Louzada, Bruno Caboclo, Joao Cardoso
- Friday, Aug. 2 vs. France, 2 p.m. (Peacock)
- Victor Wembanyama, Bilal Coulibaly, Nic Batum, Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert
Only four teams will be eliminated after the group stage. The two best third-placed teams will get a shot to knock off a favorite. Puerto Rico vs. South Sudan's loser is all but eliminated with Team USA and South Sudan also on the schedule. Germany can squeak through with a single bad showing as long as there are no blowout losses.
- Tuesday, Aug. 6 (Quarterfinals)
- Thursday, Aug. 8 (Semifinals)
- Saturday, Aug. 10 (Gold/bronze medal games)
Canada, France, Serbia, and Greece round out the top five favorites behind Team USA. Germany is sixth; Puerto Rico is second to last. Bringing home even a bronze medal would be something to brag about in the locker room for either Theis or Alvarado, not that “Mr. GTA” even needs a reason.
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