The 2004 Athens Olympics were a turning point for USA Basketball, but not in the way fans hoped. For the first time since the Dream Team days, the Americans didn’t even make the championship game. And it wasn’t because of a lack of talent because this squad had LeBron, Wade, Melo, and Amar’e Stoudemire alongside established stars like Iverson and Duncan. Yet somehow they lost to Puerto Rico, fell to Lithuania, and got knocked out by Argentina in the semis. Everyone back home was at an utter loss for words. How did this happen? Well, after all these years, one of the four has decided to put our questions to rest, and about time!

On 7 PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire revealed his and Allen Iverson’s side of the story. “So cuz we getting taped, we actually in the training room getting taped and getting ready for practice and so we get out, we get our bags and we rush, we rush over to, you know, to the meeting.” According to Amar’e, they were wrapping up their pre-practice routine and believed they were on time, or even early, but the meeting kicked off earlier than it should have.

“Mhm. And we are early. We there like a few minutes early.” So naturally, Allen Iverson and Amar’e Stoudemire didn’t suspect anything to go wrong. “So we thinking we’re good, right?” However, they were caught off guard. “He’s like, “You ain’t playing. You ain’t playing.” Like, “What? What do you mean we’re not playing?”” That must have been utterly shocking. Especially considering how important LeBron, Iverson, and Amar’e were to the team’s potential success.