LeBron James’ career accolades speak for themselves. For a quick refresher, here’s just some of his greatest achievements in his NBA career:
- Four-time NBA champion, and four-time Finals MVP
- Four-time NBA MVP
- NBA all-time scoring leader
- 19-time NBA All-Star
- 19-time All-NBA
- Six-time All-Defense
Needless to say, James has had quite the illustrious career in the National Basketball Association. From the outset, he has put on quite the show.
Somehow, James has exceeded even the most lofty of expectations one could have. To many, he’s the GOAT player, and there’s plenty of reasoning to have that opinion, when you factor in his achievements, size, speed, strength and uber-versatile skill set.
Regardless, he’s undoubtedly one of the best players to ever pick up a basketball, and he still has plenty of room in the tank. Last season, James and his Los Angeles Lakers reached the Western Conference Finals, in what was somewhat surprising fashion, with their inconsistencies in the 2022-23 regular season.
Los Angeles would be swept by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, the eventual 2023 NBA Champs, but it was a more than respectable playoff run for James and company, and they look to be one of the league’s contenders in 2023-24. LA had a productive offseason as well.
Looking a bit beyond that, though, it will be fun to watch James once again back playing for Team USA in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, James “wants to represent Team USA” then, and is “spearheading” a group of surefire Hall of Fame players to do so. Among those, per Charania’s report, are Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and numerous others, such as Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum.
Sources: LeBron James wants to represent Team USA at 2024 Paris Olympics and is spearheading group of future Hall of Famers – including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant – prepared to commit.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 11, 2023
Full details with @joevardon at @TheAthletic: https://t.co/r2XGO3E2TO
There’s still plenty of time before stars have to commit to whether they’re going to play for Team USA, and James is going to be 39 at the time of the next Summer Olympics in Paris. So, based on how the next playoffs go, there could be significantly less interest from reported players who are said to be potentially wanting in alongside seemingly LeBron, Durant and others.
In James’ case, he was seldomly utilized in the 2004 Athens Olympics, when he was only a teenager on a bronze medal team, but was an integral, all-around player on two gold medal teams in 2008 in Beijing and in 2012 in London. In those two Olympics, James had 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per contest, and then 13.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game, respectively.
James was one of the pillars of those US Olympic teams, and Durant was on that 2012 team, and could be shining on the international stage once again. If Durant, who led the US to a gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (in 2021) does join James, he’d have a chance to win his fourth gold medal, which would be incredible, to say the least.
Of course, in LeBron’s case, that was a different LeBron at those earlier stages, when he was in his first Cleveland Cavaliers’ stint and then in, realistically his prime Miami Heat days. He’s not quite where he is now on the Los Angeles Lakers as he was then, particularly on-ball defensively, but he’s more polished offensively with his skill level.
If James, Durant and Curry all give this a go, and it seems they will, that’s still an amazing trio to have in Olympic play. If Davis, Draymond Green, Devin Booker and Kyrie Irving do end up joining them as well, of which is a reported possibility at the moment, per Charania, that’d put the US in great shape for another gold medal trip.
International competition in the next Olympics is going to be tough, though, with the NBA with as much international influence as ever before. The Americans also have to rebound from their FIBA World Cup performance, where they failed to medal for the second FIBA WC in a row.
The upcoming US Olympic squad will seemingly have far more top-end NBA talent, however, and addressing the rebounding issue from this past FIBA experience has to be a point of emphasis for Team USA, and surely is.
But, generally speaking, this next Olympic experience for LeBron James should be awesome to watch once again. And another gold medal, which would be six straight for the US in Olympic play, would be special.