Team USA has arguably formed one of their most talented rosters since the 1992 Dream Team and anything below winning a gold medal will be a disappointment. Having no excuses to make, Charles Barkley issues a warning to the current team if they fall short of their goal.
In 1992, Charles Barkley was still playing for the Philadelphia 76ers and got traded to the Phoenix Suns during the summer. The offseason that year gave him the chance to suit up in American colors and bring back the gold medal to USA at the Barcelona Olympics.
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This move by the Americans to field NBA players in the Olympics bred the historic ‘Dream Team‘ that decimated their opponents, winning an average of 44 points. Since then, USA has only lost once in the 2004 Olympics but is very keen to boast that they are still on top of the mountain despite the world producing NBA-caliber talents.
According to Barklet, a team that includes LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry along with naturalized player Joel Embiid, has no business settling for less than a gold medal finish.
“If they lose, we can’t let them back in the country,” Barkley said. “I told them, they can’t come back,” Barkley said in an interview with Paul George’s podcast.
Charles Barkley rationalizes talent gap between Team USA and the rest of the world
Basketball talent worldwide has risen, and this is evident in the NBA, where you see international players competing with the Americans for major awards and even contending for championships.
With players like former league MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic leading their respective national teams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading an NBA talent stacked Canadian squad, Charles Barkley still sees that Team USA still owns the world in terms of depth in talent.
“Ain’t nobody bringing nobody off the bench better than Jayson Tatum. Ain’t nobody bringing anybody off the bench better than Kevin Durant. The international teams have gotten better, but there’s never an excuse for the United States not to win the gold medal. We’ve got the best team; we’ve got the best players by far,” he added.
In just the first few games of the 2024 Paris Olympics, many basketball fans are rolling eyes that Team USA opted to bench players like Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton, but this just shows that the American national team is that deep in talent as compared to the rest of the competition around them.
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