“World champions of what? The United States?”
That crazy comment came from USA track star Noah Lyles following his 2023 world championship win in Budapest.
Those words were specifically directed at for the “World Champion” Denver Nuggets fresh off an NBA title, criticizing their proclaimed title of the “world” despite winning in the U.S. NBA social media was quick to respond, with many NBA stars like Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker, Milwaukee Bucks’ Damien Lillard and Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo calling out the “delusional” track star. Even four-time gold medalist and two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant replied to Lyles, saying, “Somebody help this brother.”
With the USA’s recent no medal finish at the FIBA World Cup in 2023 and the heated social media disputes regarding the NBA’s global basketball dominance, there was heightened anticipation for the 2024 Olympic basketball games. As some of the all-time stars — namely Durant, Stephen Curry and LeBron James — we have grown to know and love are getting closer to retirement, they took the opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and make what is likely their last Olympic games one for the books. There has not been such a strong team formed for the Olympics since 2008 by the “Redeem team” with players such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony.
One of the key factors creating the doubt about the current day U.S. basketball dominance is the growing number of international superstar players in the NBA. In 1992, the “Dream Team” consisting of legends like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson faced only six NBA players in total in the Olympics. However, in 2024, Team USA — named LeAvengers after LeBron’s leadership — encountered 56 NBA players all over the world representing and playing for their own respective countries.
Team USA started off their Olympic resume with a clean 5-0 record during the exhibition stage; however, shaky wins against South Sudan, 101-100, and Germany, 92-88, led the public to question the dominance of the team. The doubters were quickly silenced after the addition of Durant in the group stage who dropped 21 points in 9 minutes. With the three-headed monster of Durant, Curry and James, Team USA swept the competition with convincing wins over Serbia 110-84, Puerto Rico 104-83 and South Sudan 103-86. During the elimination stage, Team USA continued their momentous run dominating Brazil 122-87 in the quarterfinals, but narrowly escaped Serbia with a remarkable 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter. Led by Curry’s nine 3-pointers and 36 points, the U.S. escaped with a 95-91 win.
Many fans were confident that the USA would take the gold in the final game against France, which was led by 7-foot-4 center Victor Wembanyama. However, this proved to be false confidence. France stayed head-to-head with the U.S. up until the start of the fourth quarter, when the U.S. went up 72-66. Then, predictably, up to hit five 3s for USA to ultimately win 98-87, securing the gold medal.
Now having successfully earned the gold medal and becoming the champions of the world without dropping a single game to another country, the Team USA Basketball social media account posted one clear retort to Lyles’s earlier criticism: “Are we the World Champs now?”