Charles Barkley isn’t expecting Team USA to leave Paris without the gold medal in men’s basketball.
If it happens, find somewhere else to call home.
“Listen, if they lose, we can’t let them back in the country,” Barkley said during his appearance on Paul George’s Paul P Podcast posted online Monday. “We can’t. I’ll tell them. You can’t come back.”
Barkley won Olympic gold with the 1992 Dream Team in Barcelona and the 1996 Dream Team II in Atlanta. This year’s team is being compared to the 1992 team with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Barkley because of its star power, starting with LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
Team USA is the top seed heading into Tuesday’s quarterfinals against Brazil (3:30 p.m. ET, 12:30 PT, NBC). Looking to win a fifth straight Olympic gold medal, the men’s national team is facing more NBA players in the Olympics than ever before.
Three of the five All-NBA first-team selections are on teams that reached the quarterfinals – Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) and Denver Nuggets big Nikola Jokic (Serbia).
Jokic just won his third NBA MVP award, Antetokounmpo is a two-time MVP and Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to the best record in the Western Conference this past season.
This isn’t even counting Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic, who is from Slovenia. He has made the All-NBA first team five straight seasons. Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, Doncic and Antetokounmpo were the top four MVP vote-getters this past season.
Still, Barkley believes Team USA should always win Olympic gold no matter what.
“Have the international teams gotten better, 100%,” Barkley said. “They still not better than the United States. You take away Joker (Jokic) and Giannis and Luka. All three guys are great, great players. Shai is great also, but we still got the next 10 best players in every game.”
Team USA won its three games in Olympic C group play by a total of 64 points and is favored to win the gold medal.
“Ain’t nobody bringing anybody off the bench better than Jayson Tatum,” said Barkley as Tatum made the All-NBA first team this past season.
Jaylen Brown and Tatum led the Boston Celtics to an NBA title this year.
“Ain’t nobody bringing anybody off the bench better than Kevin Durant,” Barkley continued. “The international teams have gotten better, but there’s never an excuse for the United States not to win the gold medal. We got the best team, we’ve got the best players by far.”
A win on Tuesday over Brazil will set up a third matchup against Jokic and Serbia in the tournament semifinals Thursday. Serbia defeated Australia, 95-90, Tuesday.
Jokic posted 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in the overtime victory.
Germany advanced to the semifinals with a 76-63 win over Greece to face France. Rising NBA star Franz Wagner led the Germans with 18 points while NBA veteran point guard Dennis Schroder added 13 points.
France upset Canada, 82-73, without huge games from bigs Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert .
The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama only scored seven points on 2-of-10 shooting (0-for-6 on 3) while Gobert didn’t even score and played just three minutes and 41 seconds. Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier paced France with 22 and 20 points, respectively, as the two combined to shoot 6-of-9 from distance.
Wembanyama was the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft and is viewed as a generational talent. He took Rookie of the Year by a unanimous vote while Gobert won NBA Defensive Player of the Year for a fourth time this past season.
The 6-10 Wagner led the Orlando Magic back to the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2020 along with Paolo Banchero while Schroder is entering his 12th NBA season.
Still, Team USA should win gold, no matter what.
“You can’t find teams internationally that can put it all together the way the USA team can,” George said. “If we’re locked in, there’s not shot at USA losing.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Team USA men’s basketball: Charles Barkley says team must win gold
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 07:44:00
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