On Sunday, the U.S. men's basketball team debuted in the 2024 Olympics against Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic. With a player of "The Joker's" caliber leading Team USA's opening-game opponent—he's a three-time regular season MVP and arguably the best player in the world—former NBA player Nick Young compared the current Team USA's level of competition to that of the original Dream Team .
The world has caught up with the USA
The Paris Olympic team has been criticized for their shaky performances and inability to blow out opponents during their five exhibition games. Most notably, critics lashed out at Team USA after they were one basket away from being upset by a South Sudan team that doesn't have an indoor basketball facility in its country.
That said, as early as last year's FIBA World Cup, where the Americans finished in a disappointing fourth place, USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill already talked about the world catching up with the United States and the Americans no longer having the mystique the 1992 Dream Team had .
"There's no longer the mystique of playing against the NBA players. They were still in awe of playing against Charles Barkley or Karl Malone," Hill said . "It's interesting how quickly the rest of the world caught up. There was an incredible scare at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. And then in 2002 and 2004, we lost."
Related: “That's not the Stock I play with every night in Utah" - Karl Malone grew worried witnessing John Stockton's struggles on the Dream Team
Different level of competiton
The Dream Team faced Croatia in the Finals. The best player on that team was then-New Jersey Nets sharpshooter Drazen Petrovic, not Toni Kukoc, as "Swaggy P" mentioned. Petro was backed up by NBA vets Dino Radja and Stojko Vrankovic, plus future NBA players Kukoc and Zan Tabak. The USA squad, however, blew them out 117-85 in the gold medal game.
According to ESPN , 51 international players who are currently part of an NBA roster are playing in the 2024 Olympics. For comparison's sake, the Dream Team only faced five in Barcelona. Canada leads all teams with 10 NBA players on their roster, including All-NBA First Team selection Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Meanwhile, fifth-ranked Australia has eight.
Impressively, Team USA defeated Serbia 110-84 on Sunday in a game they were only favored to win by 13 points. That's a good start, but it's not a guarantee that LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry will waltz their way to the gold medal in Paris—not with the level of opposition that they are facing.
Related: Kevin Durant talks about the key to Team USA's win over Serbia: "We played a lot of random basketball"
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