Is Team USA Better In 2024 Than The Dream Team Was In 1992?
If you listen to Serbia’s coach then yes.
Former Duke star Jayson Tatum is fresh off an NBA championship run and in a few weeks, he’ll be in Paris, along with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard and others.
This team is almost certainly going to be favored, but realistically, how good should they be?
According to Serbia’s coach Svetislav Pesic, extremely good. Like better than you would imagine good.
How’s that? Well, it’s like this, according to Pesic: “This American team is better than the original Dream Team from 1992,” Pesic said, per Mozzart Sport. Although we don’t deal with them and I won’t talk to my players about them...I was there with the German team and then we thought there were no better players than these. This team that will appear in Paris will be stronger than the Dream Team, with the fact that not everyone will prepare just for them like not everyone was prepared just for the Dream Team in 1992. Although everyone wanted to take a picture with them. We don’t want that now.”
That last bit is pretty key. In 1992, no one had ever seen anything like the Dream Team and teams crowded around to take pictures, get autographs and jersey swaps. That sort of thing.
It was light years ahead of everyone else.
As great as that team was though, remember that Larry Bird was near the end with a terrible back problem and Magic Johnson was playing after his HIV diagnosis led him to retire from the NBA at the beginning of the 1991-92 season.
So is this team better? It’s an interesting argument. It won’t be more famous or iconic, but it could be better.
And it might not matter.
Why? Just look around.
Serbia has Nicola Jokic. Slovenia has Luka Doncic. France has Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyana and a ton of promising young players. Canada has a lot of NBA talent including Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett and Jamal Murray.
Yes, the US is bringing a great roster and those players are capable of playing together and of pressing their advantages. But it’s never going to be easy again. 1992 is a long time ago on the calendar and about a century ago basketball wise. So yes, the US will be favored. But an easy win? Just because the jerseys say USA?
Don’t count on it.