The U.S. men’s basketball team will enter the Paris Olympics as heavy favorites to win their fifth consecutive gold medal.
But the globalization of the game has made that throne more susceptible to new kings than it was at the previous four Summer Olympics. Rising American star Joel Embiid perhaps knows this better than anyone.
Embiid committed to play for the United States in last year’s Olympics against France and Cameroon, but he knows his first big stint with the national team doesn’t guarantee him a gold medal, and he points to LeBron James’ age as a microcosm of why the U.S. won’t reach the top spot.
The average age of Team USA is just under 31, with half of the team members being 30 or older. James is the oldest member of the team, turning 40 in December.
There’s no better sign of the turbulence Team USA could face in Paris than Sunday’s 101-100 win over South Sudan, where the Americans needed a James layup with less than 10 seconds left to win the game.
Joel Embiid will be the star of the heavily favored United States team at the Paris Olympics in basketball.
Embiid has also raised some red flags about the age of some Team USA stars, including James
The Americans trailed South Sudan by double digits for long stretches of the game.
“You look at the talent that the United States has, but there is the same talent on other teams,” Embiid told the New York Times. “And in addition to the talent that is on the U.S. team, you also have to understand that most of those guys are older.”
“The LeBron of today is not the LeBron of a couple years ago,” Embiid said. “So there’s a big difference. Everyone will tell you, and you can see for yourself, the athletic, dominant LeBron that he was a couple years ago is not the same LeBron that he is now.”
“I think people get fooled by the names on paper. But those names have been built up over their careers and they’re older now. They’re not what they used to be,” Embiid concluded.
The United States will play South Sudan again in Paris, alongside Puerto Rico and Serbia in Group C.
