The best American players to never play for Team USA (since 1992)

USA Basketball started selecting NBA players for Team USA at the Olympics in 1992. Things were kicked off with a bang, as the Dream Team, arguably the greatest basketball team ever assembled, dominated their way to a gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

With Kawhi Leonard dropping out of the 2024 Olympic Games and the controversy surrounding Jaylen Brown’s Team USA snub this summer – after winning Finals MVP, no less – we thought it’d be a good time to take a look back at the best American basketball players to never play for USA Basketball.

Spoiler alert: Brown won’t be on this list because he played for Team USA at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The Americans finished in seventh place in that tournament and Brown averaged 7.9 points over eight appearances, just for your information.

Below, check out the best American players to never play for Team USA (since 1992).

Note: We are not counting youth-level Team USA appearances. This is only for the senior team.

Kawhi Leonard

Leonard was set to make his Team USA debut this summer at the Olympic Games in Paris but had to pull out of the team since he was still dealing with a knee injury he had late last season.

Leonard has technically suited up for USA Basketball once, though that was in an intrasquad scrimmage showcase in 2015, a game that saw Leonard drop 14 points and two steals in 24 minutes of play. The two-time NBA champion also played for the Team USA Select team in 2012, helping the senior men’s National Team prepare for the 2012 London Olympics, a team that featured Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Leonard seemed like a lock to play in the 2016 Olympic Games, especially after participating in that 2015 showcase game and with his head coach at the time, Gregg Popovich, leading the way, but he dropped out of consideration for a spot on that team, too, stating:

“This was a very difficult decision,” Leonard said. “It’s an honor to have been considered for the team and I hope that in the future I will have the chance to represent my country by playing for USA Basketball.”

And so, to this day, Leonard has never suited up in an official game for either the senior or junior teams for USA Basketball. At this point, it’s looking like he’ll never get the opportunity to unless he’s willing to play at the next FIBA World Cup. Leonard, with his recent injury history, just doesn’t seem all that likely to play for Team USA as a 37-year-old at the next Olympics.

Dennis Rodman

There isn’t much written in the history books with regard to Dennis Rodman and Team USA, a pretty good indication that he was probably never considered all that hard as a potential member to join USA Basketball at a summer tournament.

More than likely, that just came down to Rodman not being the type of personality USA Basketball was looking to sell with Dream Team I, II or III. Flat-out, he was probably seen as someone who’d be a potential locker-room distraction more than anything, with the risks outweighing the rewards for Team USA.

To break down the timeline, after Rodman’s very successful time with the Detroit Pistons ended in 1992-93 (Rodman was an elite player at the time but the first Dream Team in ’92 was just fine without him), he spent 1993-94 and 1994-95 with the San Antonio Spurs, still a great player but a complete distraction off the court without the team success to hide behind. Rodman had to do some serious work to clean up his image after his time with San Antonio, as his second season with the Spurs saw him:

• Get suspended
• Take a leave of absence
• Get suspended again
• Return only to get hurt in a motorcycle accident
• Miss time recovering from a shoulder injury stemming from said motorcycle accident

All that happened before Rodman played a single minute in 1994-95, by the way.

That wonderfully chaotic year for Rodman culminated with him getting suspended for a third time in the playoffs, before then going off on his head coach, Bob Hill, and general manager – just some dude named Gregg Popovich – in the locker room after a playoff defeat to the Houston Rockets that saw the Spurs get eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals despite a 62-20 regular-season record.

The Spurs would trade Rodman to the Chicago Bulls the following offseason.

That’s all to say, it makes sense why USA Basketball probably wanted to avoid adding that type of volatility to the mix at the 1994 World Championship with Dream Team II, or to Dream Team III at the ’96 Olympics, especially when all Team USA had to do back then was show up and win. The Rodman-sized drama was just not needed, despite his historic talent as a defender and rebounder.

Even so, that still leaves Rodman as one of the greatest American basketball players to never suit up for Team USA.

James Worthy

Los Angeles Lakers legend James Worthy’s inclusion on this list is a bit tricky, as he was exiting his prime by the time NBA players were finally allowed to suit up for USA Basketball.

Had that rule changed prior to ’92, there’s a strong chance Worthy, a three-time NBA champion, seven-time All-Star and two-time 3rd Team All-NBAer, would have been a Team USA member. He did represent USA Basketball at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Salvador, helping the team win a gold medal at the tournament.

Worthy’s one shot at the senior team with USA Basketball was in 1992. Coming out of 1991-92, Worthy was still a top player, earning All-Star honors for a campaign in which he averaged 19.9 points on 44.7 percent shooting to go with 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists. But the ’92 Dream Team was just so loaded at forward that he missed the cut behind Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Chris Mullin.

Tough to say that Worthy clearly deserved a shot over any of those all-timers.

Chris Webber

Chris Webber was kind of a controversial figure at a much more conservative time in the NBA early on in his career. A braggadocious, game-changing member of the Fab Five at the University of Michigan, Webber was a household name prior to even getting to the NBA, though many fans did not like Webber’s, or his Michigan teammates’, antics.

Regardless, by the early 2000s, Webber was a star player for the Sacramento Kings and one of the best power forwards in the NBA. Webber should have been a USA Olympic Team member in either 2000 or 2004. However, his involvement in an ugly legal dispute involving Ed Martin, a former booster for Michigan basketball who was eventually convicted on counts of tax evasion and robbery, definitely took him out of the running.

Webber was charged with lying to a grand jury in 2002. He eventually pleaded guilty to criminal contempt for lying about his role in accepting illicit loans from Martin, receiving a minor punishment. In fact, Martin passing away in early 2003 might have actually prevented Webber from getting into even more trouble, as Martin was supposed to testify about what went on between himself and Webber financially at a sentencing hearing before his death.

Even so, veteran NBA scribe Marc Stein wrote about Webber wanting to play for Team USA at the 2004 Olympics but not being able to due to his legal trouble at the time:

Sacramento’s Chris Webber is back on the fringes of the MVP derby, in spite of the 15 games he lost to an ankle injury, but he’s not back on USA Basketball’s radar. Not yet. Ongoing uncertainty about Webber’s legal situation, as ESPN.com reported in December, has excluded him from Team USA consideration to date. …. Although Webber said in November that he wants to represent his country, the selection committee has been reluctant to even discuss the idea because of Webber’s perjury trial looming this summer. The trial is scheduled to begin July 8 in spite of the recent death of former University of Michigan booster Ed Martin, the prosecution’s star witness, at age 69. …. It remains to be seen if Webber’s legal cloud will lift in time for him to have a shot at making the national team, which is openly desperate for big men.

Another legendary NBA reporter, David Aldridge, likewise wrote about Webber’s Team USA history, saying that the Hall-of-Fame big man also missed out on the 2000 Olympics due to his Martin-related legal problems:

It’s obvious to me that if not for his involvement with Martin, Webber would have been on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, which won the gold medal in Australia, as well – another potential feather in his cap that would bolster his Hall of Fame credentials.

Regardless, it’s obvious that Webber would have made a Team USA roster if not for his legal problems, especially in the early 2000s when USA Basketball was in a bit of a downturn and in need of elite talent. Lest we forget, the 2004 USA Basketball Team lost three games in the tournament and finished with a bronze medal.

Webber is no stranger to getting snubbed, though, as the big man often missed out on deserving All-Star and All-NBA spots in his prime, getting MVP votes in five separate seasons but only having five All-Star and five All-NBAs (just one of them a 1st Team) to show for it. Far lesser players have more All-Star nods than Webber despite his insane peak, which saw him average 23.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.7 blocks on 48.5 percent shooting over a seven-year stretch from 1996 to 2003.

All in all, Webber will go down as one of the best American players with zero senior-team USA Basketball nods.

LaMarcus Aldridge

Big man LaMarcus Aldridge was a seven-time All-Star and five-time All-NBAer (two 2nd Teams, three 3rd Teams) in his career, accolades that will get the former Texas standout Hall-of-Fame consideration, though Basketball-Reference thinks it’s basically 50/50 whether or not he gets in.

Even so, he was one of the best big men in the NBA for a very long time, averaging over 17-plus points for 13 seasons in a row from the mid-2000s to the late ’10s.

Aldridge was so good that he got Team USA consideration twice in his prime, once for the 2014 FIBA World Cup and once for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, though he ultimately withdrew from consideration both times. On the latter tournament, Aldridge withdrew because he was recovering from an injury at the time (via Bleacher Report)

Another marquee star will be unavailable for the United States men’s basketball team at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As ESPN.com’s Marc Stein first reported, San Antonio Spurs power forward LaMarcus Aldridge removed himself from the Team USA player pool Monday in order to allow a finger and hand injury to heal. Spurs general manager R.C. Buford confirmed the news, per the Associated Press, and added that the team will “always support a player’s decision when it comes to participation with his national team.”

Aldridge could have been a solid piece for Team USA, a big man with face-up and post-up abilities who could have performed well in a FIBA setting.

Blake Griffin

Injuries were unfortunately a constant in Blake Griffin’s career, limiting his freakishly athletic play when it looked like he was set to embark on a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame career. Even despite the injuries, Griffin still shined as an NBA player, winning Rookie of the Year, making six All-Star appearances and being selected to three 2nd Team All-NBAs (with two 3rd Team All-NBAs).

One accolade he wasn’t able to add to his mantle in his playoff career, however, was a medal with USA Basketball. Griffin did participate in minicamps later in his prime but was ultimately never able to don the red, white and blue at a big summer tournament.

Despite a healthy 2013-14 that saw him finish Top 3 in the MVP vote, Griffin withdrew from consideration for the 2014 World Cup, leaving then-Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo befuddled (via Slam)…

“I’m disappointed he’s not going to be with us,” Colangelo said. “It’s unfortunate (because) it’s been two competitions in a row (that Griffin has missed), but it sounds like a broken record because it happened recently with someone else.” […] “We didn’t have any indication that there was even a possibility of a change in plans (from Griffin),” said Colangelo, who was told of Griffin’s decision in the early afternoon on Thursday.

…while he missed out on the 2016 Rio Olympics due to injury, as Griffin only played in 35 regular-season games in 2015-16.

Griffin seemed to have some remorse on never suiting up for Team USA when he talked to reporters at the 2018 USA Basketball minicamp, saying:

The opportunities to play with the U-S-A across his chest thought to be plentiful a few years ago have been replaced by the reality that this process waits for no one, not even a superstar. “It’s always a privilege to be here,” Griffin said. “I say it all the time, USA Basketball is just a different thing, a different atmosphere and a different type of respect. It’s important, too. And I think guys who have played all the way through will tell you that. I’ve been close a couple of times and barring injury, I probably would have been there. And it’s still something I look forward to accomplishing.”

Ultimately, Griffin’s body just wasn’t able to hold up enough for him to suit up in international play, an unfortunate reality that mirrors his NBA prime.

John Wall

Former No. 1 overall pick John Wall came close to representing the Stars and Stripes a couple of times in his career, most notably at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup – but he did not survive the second-to-last round of cuts for that tournament.

Offseason knee surgery then prevented him from making the 2016 Rio Olympics roster for Team USA after he had been named among the 30 finalists to make the squad.

And then, despite earning an invite to Team USA minicamp the summer prior, Wall likewise didn’t make the cut for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup either, which makes sense considering he played in 73 combined regular-season games over the prior two campaigns before the World Cup, missing a ton of time those years due to injury.

Wall was a five-time All-Star in his prime and made 3rd Team All-NBA in 2016-17 but his body just didn’t hold up well enough in his late 20s to warrant Team USA selection, a true shame considering what a fantastic athlete he was before all the injuries. Wall’s lack of shooting likewise was probably a hindrance to his FIBA potential, something Team USA likely saw when the program cut him before the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Brad Daugherty

As was the case with Worthy, 1986 No. 1 overall pick Brad Daugherty might have found his way onto a USA Basketball team had NBA players been allowed to join prior to ’92. After all, Daugherty was a three-time All-Star and had gotten MVP votes by the time 1992 rolled around.

Nevertheless, the University of North Carolina legend only had one real chance to make a Team USA squad – and that would have been with the Dream Team in ’92, an unlikely proposition considering the team already had two all-time centers in Patrick Ewing and David Robinson.

It’s tough because 1991-92 – heading into the Olympic Games in Barcelona – was the best season of Daugherty’s career, one that saw him be named an All-Star, get MVP votes and finish with 3rd Team All-NBA honors. But the 1st Team All-NBA center that season was Robinson while the 2nd Team All-NBA center was Ewing, so politics can’t be blamed for Daugherty not making it to the Dream Team.

Had it not been for injuries, Daugherty might have had a chance at making it onto Dream Team II for the ’94 World Championships. By then, the talented big man was already dealing with the back problems that would end his career prematurely, so it was simply not to be for Daugherty.

Latrell Sprewell

Latrell Sprewell was an excellent two-way guard in his prime, making four All-Star appearances, earning MVP votes once and making 1st Team All-NBA in 1993-94. However, as was likewise the case for Rodman, Sprewell just didn’t have the personality Team USA wanted to market, so on top of maybe not being on the level to play for USA Basketball, his antics on and off the court certainly didn’t help his case either.

After all, lest we forget he was once suspended for 68 games after punching and choking then-Warriors head coach PJ Carlesimo, an incident that occurred in 1997. That incident, on top of other off-the-court incidents Sprewell had, rightfully ended any chance he might have had at representing Team USA.

Bradley Beal

Former Florida Gator Bradley Beal came very close to representing Team USA, once at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and once at the Tokyo Olympics. He withdrew the first time for family reasons but, much more unfortunately, after making the team to represent USA Basketball in the Olympics in 2021, he had to be removed from the roster due to catching COVID-19 just before the team was set to head out to Tokyo.

Beal was performing well in warm-up games for the U.S., making his last-second removal from the roster all the more unfortunate:

Beal was expected to play for the Americans two years ago in the Basketball World Cup in China, but had to withdraw from consideration before training camp for family reasons. He finally had his chance to suit up for the senior national team now and he seemed ready for it. After scoring just two points in the Americans’ loss to Nigeria in their opener, he followed with 12 points against Australia and then had 17 on Tuesday against Argentina in the first U.S. victory. “Bradley, there’s no doubt, he’s a huge loss. He was playing every well, understanding everything and fit in well with the group,” Popovich said. “So there’s no next Bradley Beal.”

Beal was second in the NBA in scoring prior to those Olympics at 31.3 points per game, was an All-Star and made the lone All-NBA appearance of his career that season as a 3rd Teamer in 2020-21. Overall, Beal has had three All-Star appearances in his career.

Now, it’s looking quite unlikely Beal will ever get to suit up for Team USA, though he’s still just 31.

Antoine Walker

Former Boston Celtics star Antoine Walker was a three-time All-Star in his heyday and might have actually been a bit ahead of hit time, a skilled power forward with good size who could shoot the basketball, dribble, create for others all on top of his impressive scoring prowess.

That’s the kind of player who might have been a good fit in FIBA, although Walker never got to showcase those skills on the international stage, as he never made a Team USA roster.

Walker not making it to the 2004 Olympics for Team USA makes sense, as 2003-04 was actually a bit of a down season for him, one that saw him average just 14.0 points and 8.3 rebounds. But Walker might have actually gotten some consideration for the 2000 Olympics, as he had just averaged 20.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists for Boston the season prior.

However, with a prime Kevin Garnett and Antonio McDyess on the roster, the team probably just didn’t need a third power forward that year. And considering Team USA went undefeated and won the Gold Medal at the 2000 Olympic Games, they were right.