{"id":73613,"date":"2024-04-16T15:15:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T19:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73613"},"modified":"2024-04-19T20:34:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T00:34:01","slug":"2024-paris-olympics-options-team-usa-final-roster-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/16\/2024-paris-olympics-options-team-usa-final-roster-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics: Options for Team USA\u2019s Final Roster Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Paris Olympics beginning on Jul. 26, Team USA has revealed its choices<\/a> for 11 of the 12 roster spots, per ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski:<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James<\/a>; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry<\/a>; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant<\/a>; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum<\/a>; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid<\/a>; Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton<\/a>; Minnesota Timberwolves wing Anthony Edwards<\/a>; Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo<\/a>; Suns guard Devin Booker<\/a>; Celtics guard Jrue Holiday<\/a>; and Lakers hybrid big Anthony Davis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The final roster spot is up in the air, but keep in mind that Team USA is looking to put the best possible roster<\/a> on the floor after a fourth-place finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. and NBA are still seen as the premier basketball country and league. Nonetheless, there\u2019s now enough international talent for the U.S. men\u2019s basketball team to take these competitions seriously. To that point, with all due respect to Austin Reaves<\/a> and Cam <\/a>Johnson<\/a>, there\u2019s no way that they\u2019re supposed to be on a roster that represents the best players in the United States.<\/p>\n

Analyzing Potential Option\u2019s for Team USA\u2019s Final Roster Spot<\/h2>\n

Looking at the players that were left off of Team USA\u2019s initial roster, several intriguing options come to mind for the final spot.<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard<\/h3>\n

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard<\/a> is without a doubt the top U.S. player not listed. A two-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and six-time All-Star, Leonard is also the most accomplished player not on the roster.<\/p>\n

In 2023-24, Leonard averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. A gifted technical scorer, Leonard shot 52.5 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from 3. It\u2019s his second consecutive season shooting above 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3.<\/p>\n

Leonard would be the best two-way forward on the Team USA roster. However, he\u2019s been particularly concerned with his physical health for several seasons. Even if offered a roster spot, he may turn it down in order to keep his mileage down.<\/p>\n

Alternates: Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown<\/em><\/p>\n

Kyrie Irving<\/h3>\n

One has to wonder whether Kyrie Irving<\/a>\u2019s controversial stances on myriad topics unrelated to basketball have anything to do with why he wasn\u2019t listed, especially after expressing his desire<\/a> to play for Team USA. After all, Irving will be on a world stage representing the country. Yet, regardless of Irving\u2019s beliefs, he\u2019s as thoughtful and caring as he is free-spirited.<\/p>\n

Irving\u2019s also an NBA champion responsible for one of the most memorable shots in Finals history.<\/p>\n

When comparing his accomplishments to other active point guards, only James Harden<\/a> and Russell Westbrook<\/a> \u2014former league MVPs \u2014can argue that they\u2019ve accomplished more. However, Harden\u2019s been a malcontent when he doesn\u2019t get his way on the court. Westbrook is past his physical prime, a problem for a player that relies heavily on their athleticism.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Irving has the best chance of picking up Curry\u2019s scoring slack in the event of injury or underperformance. Damian Lillard<\/a> is more similar stylistically but he\u2019s streaky, shooting below 43 percent in two of the last three seasons. In 2023-24, Irving averaged 25.6 points and 5.2 assists per game on 49.1-41.1-90.5 shooting splits.<\/p>\n

Alternates: Donovan Mitchell, Chris Paul, Jalen Brunson<\/em><\/p>\n

Chet Holmgren<\/h3>\n

In international competition, frontcourt size matters more than it has in recent years. To that point, though Embiid, Adebayo and Davis are on the roster, they could use additional big man depth. This is particularly true when considering Embiid and Davis\u2019 injury histories.<\/p>\n

Enter Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren<\/a>. Talented enough to represent Team USA but young enough not to be too bothered if he\u2019s listed behind any of the aforementioned trio on the depth chart.<\/p>\n

A pivot that\u2019s on the slimmer side at 195 pounds, Holmgren may play power forward in certain lineups. However, he\u2019s tougher than his frame suggests. At 7-foot-1, he\u2019s also long enough to alter quite a few shots, averaging 2.3 blocks per game as a rookie.<\/p>\n

Alternates: Draymond Green, Zion Williamson, Myles Turner<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Paris Olympics beginning on Jul. 26, Team USA has revealed its choices for 11 of the 12 roster spots, per ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski: Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid; Indiana Pacers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":73619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,30,27,62,3,22],"tags":[4292,168,406,1052,2081],"class_list":["post-73613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-clippers","category-nba","category-news","category-thunder","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-olympics","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}