USA Basketball announced the finalists for the U.S. Olympic team for the Tokyo games this summer. 44 finalists were announced, highlighted by LeBron James.
Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard and Klay Thompson — they're all on the @usabasketball 44-man preliminary roster for the Tokyo Olympics just officially announced … pic.twitter.com/Y6RzKfJer4
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 10, 2020
The list of finalists includes 19 players who have won 31 gold medals at the Olympics or World Cup for the US. Nine players won the Olympic title for the US four years ago. 12 finalists were part of the U.S. team in the Basketball World Cup in China last summer. 25 finials haven’t won gold in the Olympics or the World Cup. The Olympic team will be announced later this year.
“This is the first step in USA Basketball identifying the 12 players who will represent the United States as members of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team in Tokyo,” USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said. “The commitment, desire, and excitement of all of our athletes to represent their country is genuine and remarkable. All of the finalists are exceptionally gifted athletes who offer us amazing versatility and depth, and the group of finalists features a range of players from those who are very experienced and accomplished in international basketball to players who will be future international stars.”
Colangelo added, “Over the course of the remainder of the NBA season we’ll continue to monitor all of the athletes. Selecting the 12-man USA roster will obviously be an extremely challenging and difficult process, and we will again attempt to select the very best team possible to represent our country and who we hope will be successful in our difficult mission of repeating as Olympic champions for a fourth consecutive Olympics.”
LeBron is a three-time Olympian and a two-time gold medalist. He won the gold medal in 20018 and 2012, his two most recent appearances. James has played in 68 games for the U.S national team and has a bronze medal in addition to his two gold medals. If he gets selected, he will become the second player to be a four-time men’s basketball Olympian, joining Carmelo Anthony.
The 2020 Olympics start July 24 in Tokyo. Let’s hope that Team USA brings another gold medal home.
