The 2024 Paris Olympics are in the books and Team USA came out victorious once again, winning their fifth consecutive gold medal. Two players that became vital in accomplishing this goal were Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
James was a steady force for the United States as he did a little bit of everything throughout this undefeated journey. At 39-years-old, many did not expect him to assert himself to this degree as his 22nd season looms, but he went out and won MVP of the whole tournament.
On the other hand, Curry came on strong in the final two games against Serbia and France. Particularly in the gold medal game, Curry drilled three crucial 3-pointers to stop France’s late push to make things interesting.
With all those factors, both James and Curry ultimately earned spots in FIBA’s All-Star Five, which features five of the tournament’s best players. It is a tremendous honor to have American athletes on that list given how much talent the world possesses, via FIBA:
ALL-STAR FIVE of #Paris2024 Men's #Basketball
?Dennis Schroder, Germany ??
?Stephen Curry, USA ??
?LeBron James, USA ??
?Victor Wembanyama, France ??
?Nikola Jokic, Serbia ?? pic.twitter.com/4cxZwzISTF— FIBA (@FIBA) August 10, 2024
The other three players are no-brainers as Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA and carried that over to playing for Serbia. Then San Antonio Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama exploded against Team USA with 26 points and seven rebounds on 11-for-19 from the field.
Lastly, former Lakers guard Dennis Schroder has become a steady force for Germany in the past couple of years of FIBA play. All in all, it is great to see James and Curry get this honor given that this Olympic run is probably their last.
That’s especially the case for Curry, who was starving for an opportunity to add a gold medal and got it in his first Olympics appearance. Each United States basketball team has it different dynamic and for this to feature aging stars getting it done one last time, it means something more.
Steve Kerr a LeBron James ‘fan for life’ after coaching him on Team USA
An underrated part of making this team come together is the coaching staff as there are plenty of egos to manage. But, when a gold medal is on the line, players and coaches find a way to make it work.
In the case of head coach Steve Kerr, he got to coach LeBron James and there are not many games left for the Lakers star. Seeing how things panned out, Kerr shared that he is a James ‘fan for life’ after coaching him on Team USA.
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