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Located in North London, England, is an ordinary university sports center. Normally, this gym is filled with students working out, but on this sweltering Friday afternoon, the atmosphere is slightly different.
Fans wait anxiously outside, holding their breath, security sit at the entrance and a long line of press queue to enter the centre.
Finally, the reason for the extra excitement is revealed. The buzz around the room grows louder as the U.S. men’s basketball team emerges from the locker room and takes to the court for a few reps before playing in the Olympics.
The star-studded team will begin its quest for a fifth consecutive gold medal on Sunday with its match against Nikola Jokić and Serbia. The match is scheduled to kick off at 11:15 a.m. ET in Lille, France, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of Paris.
Shift your gaze to one side of the court and you can see reigning NBA champions Jayson Tatum and Derrick White shooting three-pointers. Sandwiched between the two Celtics players, former NBA MVP Joel Embiid practices from mid-range. The NBA’s all-time leading three-point scorer Steph Curry then enters the frame, weaving through his teammates with the ball.
The idea of seeing players of this caliber playing together seems stranger than fiction – fiction that dives straight into the realm of fantasy when seeing the rest of the roster.
Look to the left and midcourt, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo are in the mix. Rising stars Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton soon enter the fray, while two-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP and former regular-season MVP Kevin Durant watches from the sidelines.
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LeBron James and Team USA trained in London before heading to Paris.
Then there’s the small matter of four-time NBA champion, four-time regular season MVP and four-time Finals MVP LeBron James wrapping up his media work before heading to the court.
Team USA has featured plenty of stars in the past, but it would be hard to argue that this is the strongest team the United States has ever sent to the Olympics.
Basketball fans have long dreamed of seeing players like James and Curry on the same team, and when a powerful block from James led to a three-pointer from Curry in a warm-up game against Germany, it was clear those dreams had come true.
While having stars on the roster is an advantage, the team’s prowess needs to translate from paper to the court. To help facilitate this, Team USA hosted a basketball game to level the team up.
A game in Las Vegas, before a trip to Abu Dhabi for two games and then finally to London for a pair of games, saw the US team tested ahead of the Olympics.
Five games and five wins for this star-studded team. But it wasn’t as easy as the results suggest, especially in London.
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The American team was put to the test during the London leg of its event.
The United States beat South Sudan 101-100 before surviving a scare against Germany with a 92-88 victory.
“You can’t take anything away from South Sudan,” James said after the narrow win. “They played extremely good basketball and that’s why the game is won between the lines and not just on paper.”
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer had a similar view after beating Germany.
“We improved tonight and that’s the most important thing,” the Lakers star told reporters after the game. “We were tested by a great German team, they were world champions last year, so it was a good test for us.”
“I’m glad we managed, once again, to keep our cool and persevere like we did the other day against South Sudan. It was a great win for us.”
Each time, the American team looked to its leader, and it was “King James” who got his team across the line.
The 20-time NBA All-Star led the United States in scoring against South Sudan with 25 points before adding a game-high 20 points against Germany – including 11 in the fourth quarter.
Watching James in action, it’s almost impossible to believe that he’ll be celebrating his 40th birthday later this year, and teams still can’t stop the Los Angeles Lakers star.
“Someone called LeBron James made some really good plays at the end,” Germany coach Gordon Herbert told reporters after the game, summing up his team’s performance against the United States.
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LeBron James shone in Team USA’s exhibition matches in London against South Sudan and Germany.
Team cohesion must be there – and fast
But heading to France, Team USA will know it won’t always have James, and with five practice games under his belt, other stars will be looking to step up at the Olympics.
Golden State Warriors star Curry said he has confidence in everyone on the team to get it done.
“The chemistry is pretty natural,” Curry told reporters in Paris on Thursday. “You trust whoever has the ball, you make a play, you’re yourself and hopefully something good comes out of it. The chemistry is there so far, hopefully it continues.”
The two-time MVP also spoke about the importance of having the right attitude to succeed when playing on such a quality team.
“You have to be able to adapt quickly,” Curry said. “You have to be able to put your ego in front, each of us as an individual player, but also let it go, knowing that it doesn’t matter who scores that night. When you’re on the court, you’re asked to do a certain thing and do it to the best of your ability, play with energy, and as Team USA, if we do that, usually good things happen.”
Stars from around the world are now aiming to end the United States’ golden streak, and the number of stars within the team is, oddly enough, one of the things they are trying to exploit.
“On paper, it’s obvious they’re the more talented team, that’s no secret,” Australian star Josh Giddey told reporters last week. “The difference is these guys (on Team USA) have never played together, whereas a lot of these other countries have a core group and have been together for years. I think that kind of thing really has an effect.”
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Steph Curry will be one of the American stars to watch during the Olympics.
Miami Heat star Adebayo reminded reporters that you can’t win games on paper, and while Team USA is loaded with All-NBA players, the opposing countries are also loaded with NBA-quality players, unlike the Olympics of yesteryear.
France boasts talents such as rookie of the year phenom Victor Wembanyama and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Canada boasts 10 NBA players including two-time All-NBA First Team star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Australia has a core of NBA veterans.
But Durant, Team USA’s all-time Olympic leading scorer, cites two NBA MVPs as players to watch outside of Team USA.
“Giannis (Antetokounmpo) maybe, (Nikola) Jokić,” Durant said of the biggest international stars. “Our game is global now; all those guys are big stars in their own way… We’re playing against 65 or 64 NBA players now, they’re all the best in the world.”
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The United States men’s basketball team is hoping to bring home a gold medal for Team USA.
But despite the increased competition, the American team’s self-confidence has not wavered.
When asked who he was looking forward to playing against in the Olympics, Curry responded confidently.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in contention for the gold medal,” the sharpshooter told reporters. But with his team’s pedigree, that confidence is far from misplaced.
Team USA could win its fifth consecutive gold medal if it wins this year’s Olympics. With that victory, this team would surely write its name in basketball history.