2024 Paris Olympics: LeBron James-Led Team USA Triggers Pressing Question About “Sacrifice”, as Per Gilbert Arenas

We have seen the impact and accomplishments of the Dream Team and the Redeem Team. What can we call this new version of Team USA for the 2024 Olympics? The internet has come up with interesting names, but the highlight is that they have a lot of trust in this experienced roster of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, etc. While many have faith in Team USA for the upcoming Paris Olympics, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas has one big question that could create doubt about this superstar roster.

Many are comparing Team USA to the Avengers. However, Arenas is doubtful about the “sacrifice“ within these superstars. In the latest episode of his podcast Gil’s Arena, the 3x All-Star shared, “The best players are going to sacrifice… Now let’s say something happens to some of these players and Jrue Holiday has to step in for Curry. Does he have the ability to turn into what Curry does? See that’s the problem with some of these guys. You need a player to step up. Do they even have the capability to do it?”

Arenas also made a comparison with the 1996 Team USA. He said, “In the ’96 team, if David Robinson went down, Hakeem Olajuwon was on the bench, Shaquille O’Neal was on the bench.” 

The guards who have been roped in for the Olympics this year are Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker. All of them have made their mark in the NBA this season, but Arenas doesn’t believe one can replace the other. The comparisons further continued. 

Gilbert Arenas believes 2024 Team USA does not have the Olympic standard

“When they introduced Dream Team, Dream Team 2 to the world, it was a standard on making that team,” said Arenas. The standard was that all 12 players on the roster were the best in the NBA. Basically, almost all of them made it to the All-NBA selections. However, this year, Team USA was announced even before the All-NBA teams were revealed. That is a concern for Arenas once again. 

In the 1992 Dream Team, nine of the twelve players made it to the All-NBA selections that year. The remaining three were Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal. Bird and Johnson were two of the most experienced players in the NBA, while Shaq was the youngest, who had just come out of college.

We are yet to know how many from the 2024 Olympics squad of the USA will make it to the All-NBA. Apart from Jrue Holiday and possibly LeBron James, all the other roster members are expected to make the All-NBA teams. Compared to the other countries at the Olympics, no team will have even 5 members on the same level.