USA Basketball three takeaways from South Sudan win: Joel Embiid benched; top lineup found; Devin Booker earns spot

The USA Basketball senior men’s national team carried a different look upon taking the court for their second group game of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was missing from the center spot. Boston Celtics hero Jayson Tatum was back at forward Thursday in Lille, France, against South Sudan.

The United States’ 103-86 victory officially advanced them to the quarterfinal round with still one group game left to play against Puerto Rico. But it also gave us reason to believe this team is continuing to evolve, possibly toward the best possible version of itself.

Three takeaways from the game:

Steve Kerr got the message about Joel Embiid

It would be ridiculous to suggest Embiid is not one of the best basketball players in the world. He is a seven-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA selection and the 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player. Playing just half the most recent season, he averaged 34.7 points and 11 rebounds.

He has been, however, the least of the members of the U.S. Olympic men’s team.

Indeed, he only made one appearance at Paris 2024, but the United States played five exhibition games in which Embiid started every time. And it was easy to see at each step in the process, with Embiid struggling to defend ball screens and serving little purpose in the offense.

At last, coach Steve Kerr made the decision to change his starting lineup and insert Anthony Davis.

That didn’t mean Embiid had to disappear from the rotation, but he sat on the bench with his hands in his pockets as Tyrese Haliburton at last returned to the court after sitting through all of the last two games and most of the one before. Haliburton became the 11 ^th player to appear for the U.S. against South Sudan.

That Embiid did not play at all, even after Davis briefly was removed with an ankle scare, suggested there was something more at work than merely his deficient play.

The ball moved without Embiid in the game. The U.S. wound up with 29 assists on 37 baskets. Six different players scored in double figures. The team shot 53 percent from the field – even with Steph Curry stuck in a rare 1-for-9 rut.

MORE: Ranking Team USA's biggest threats at the Paris Olympics

The U.S. men maybe found their most lethal lineup

After the United States was outscored by three in the third quarter, Kerr opened the fourth quarter with a lineup of LeBron James, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

Did just reading those five names in sequence take your breath away?

Largely because Durant missed all five pre-Olympic games with a calf injury, we never got to see this group together. But it is a lineup that may become essential to the pursuit of the gold medal.

It’s not a perfect group. Davis is an extraordinary defender, but he is the only one who would be included in that category. Even if deployed only in stretches, though, those five guys in tandem could disarm nearly every defense they play.

We’ve seen in the NBA, during their time together with the Warriors, what it can do to a defense to be forced to contend with Durant and Curry at once, and that is only enhanced by Booker stretching the defense farther still, and by James’ ability to find open teammates and attack the gaps that are created.

When the fourth quarter began, the U.S. was ahead 73-57. When Durant and Curry were removed from the game, it was 87-70.

So it’s not like they dominated as a quintet, but again, their experience together is limited.

It’d be nice to see more of this unit in what becomes a relatively meaningless final group game Saturday against Puerto Rico.

MORE: Team USA's complete schedule for 2024 Paris Olympics

Devin Booker earned his starting spot – on D?

Since joining the Phoenix Suns after a single season with the Kentucky Wildcats, Booker rapidly progressed toward stardom by lighting up NBA scoreboards as one of the league’s most dangerous shooters.

He has scored 24.9 points or more in seven consecutive seasons, and made at least 110 3-pointers in eight.

Against South Sudan, though, his primary assignment was to defend point guard Carlik Jones, a former star at Louisville who rang up a triple-double when the U.S. pulled off an exhibition victory against this same team by a single point in London.

Jones wound up scoring 18 points, but it took him 19 shots to get there, and he committed four turnovers in 38 minutes.

Booker used his superior size to shut down Jones from the beginning. Derrick White came off the bench to continue to siege. But White was added to this team because of his defensive orientation, and it’s why he was elevated into the rotation after Jones did such damage in the exhibition.

Booker’s effort established the standard – most evident when he fought around a screen and closed off Jones’ drive with 7:03 left and South Sudan down 14.

His reward for that? A fastbreak layup and 3-point play after Durant picked up a steal and ignited the break with a bounce pass to Booker, who wound up with 10 points, 6 assists and a plus-9 rating in 22 minutes.