{"id":77920,"date":"2024-05-18T20:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T00:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=77920"},"modified":"2024-05-18T20:01:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T00:01:02","slug":"nba-experience-abound-alongside-victor-wenbanyama-for-france-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/18\/nba-experience-abound-alongside-victor-wenbanyama-for-france-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Experience Abound Alongside Wenbanyama For France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the most recent Summer Olympic Games in 2021 (originally scheduled for 2020, but postponed due to COVID), the France men\u2019s basketball team won a silver medal. That team did not have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> on their roster.\u00a0With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games set to take place beginning in July, France will look to take home their first Olympic gold medal in men\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n<p>They would love to do so with the Olympics taking place in their home country. Their 2021 silver medal was the third time the France men\u2019s team received one.\u00a0Plenty of eyes will be on the 20-year-old Wembanyama during Olympic play as he will be taking part this year. The first overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/17\/san-antonio-spurs-favorties-to-land-all-star-point-guard-darius-garland-cleveland-cavaliers\/\" target=\"_self\">San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, Wembanyama recently won the Rookie of the Year in unanimous fashion.\u00a0France recently named their preliminary roster featuring 19 players. While they will eventually need to trim their roster to 12, NBA fans should recognize many players who potentially could be sharing the court with Wembanyama.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"fr\">Les 1\u20e39\u20e3 Bleus retenus par Vincent pour pr\u00e9parer les Jeux \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7\ud83d\udc4a<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TeamFranceBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#TeamFranceBasket<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Passionn%C3%A9mentBleu?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Passionn\u00e9mentBleu<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/w9XPLfo6T6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/w9XPLfo6T6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u00c9quipes de France de Basket (@FRABasketball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FRABasketball\/status\/1791135920374092194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>NBA Experience Abound Alongside Wenbanyama For France<\/h2>\n<h3>Victor Wembanyama Will Have Plenty of Teammates With NBA Experience<\/h3>\n<p>The most notable name featured on France\u2019s preliminary roster to play alongside Wembanyama is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a>. The 31-year-old won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year this season. That ties him with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wallabe01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Wallace<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mutomdi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dikembe Mutombo<\/a> for the most in NBA history. His Minnesota Timberwolves face a Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday in the Western Conference Semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>Also on the roster is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/batumni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nicolas Batum<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/03\/philadelphia-76ers-planned-to-pursue-a-reunion-with-former-guard-jrue-holiday\/\" target=\"_self\">Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>. The 35-year-old played 28.3 minutes per game in his first-round matchup with the New York Knicks. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fournev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Fournier<\/a> spent more than a full season glued to the bench for the Knicks before they traded him to the Detroit Pistons. It was just two seasons ago though (2021-22) that he set the single-season franchise record for New York for three-pointers made (passed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/divindo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donte DiVincenzo<\/a> this season).<\/p>\n<p>The seventh overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/coulibi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bilal Coulibaly<\/a> won\u2019t turn 20 until July 26. He started 15 games for the Washington Wizards this season and averaged 8.4 points. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/diengou01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ousmane Dieng<\/a>, the 11th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, is currently outside the playoff rotation for the Oklahoma City Thunder.\u00a0Three players on the preliminary roster played in the NBA in 2023-24 but ended the season not on a team. They are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maledth01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theo Maledon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/ntilila01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frank Ntilikina<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayeski01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Killian Hayes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>France also features many players on the preliminary roster who previously spent time in the NBA. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yabusgu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Guerschon Yabusele<\/a> played 74 total games for the Boston Celtics in 2017-18 and 2018-19. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/decolna01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nando De Colo<\/a> saw action in 119 NBA games in 2012-13 and 2013-14. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okoboel01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elie Okobo<\/a> participated in 108 games for the Phoenix Suns in 2018-19 and 2019-20. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hoardja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Hoard<\/a> has 39 games of prior NBA experience, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poirivi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vincent Poirier<\/a> has 32.<\/p>\n<h3>USA Will Be the Heavy Favorite to Win Gold<\/h3>\n<p>While France has a deep roster, at least on paper, nobody\u2019s roster looks anywhere near as strong as the USA. It was the USA that defeated France in the gold medal game in 2021. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usab.com\/news\/2024\/04\/2024-usa-basketball-mens-national-team-announced\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USA\u2019s 12-man roster<\/a> has already been announced. Headed to Paris are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adebaba01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bam Adebayo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bookede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Booker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/halibty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Haliburton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holidjr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jrue Holiday<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> James<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the most recent Summer Olympic Games in 2021 (originally scheduled for 2020, but postponed due to COVID), the France men\u2019s basketball team won a silver medal. That team did not have Victor Wembanyama on their roster.\u00a0With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games set to take place beginning in July, France will look to take home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":77969,"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":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,61,62,34],"tags":[49184,131,282,1052,394,4669],"class_list":["post-77920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-international-basketball","category-nba","category-spurs","tag-2024-olympics","tag-evan-fournier","tag-nicolas-batum","tag-olympics","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77920","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\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}