No team in American basketball Olympic history is as polarizing as the 2020, or should I say 2021 team. The team struggled and faced adversity like none other, and had the worst start of any team in American history yet found itself late for Olympic glory.
Some of Team USA’s struggles come from the fact that the entire world was struggling. In February 2020 the Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic began and pretty much shut the world down. The NBA stopped play on March 11th and did not resume until July 31st. On March 30th, the IOC announced that the Tokyo Games would be postponed until 2021.
Politics had once again interjected themselves into basketball. After the unlawful killing of George Floydd in May 2020 many players protested in the streets as part of the Black Lives Matter campaign. This brought the ire of right-wing pundits and politicians who lambasted the NBA. Then during the bubble, teams wore slogans on their jerseys and after the killing of another black-man the players threatened to sit out the remainder of the playoffs in the bubble.
By the time the 2021 Olympics came about, US basketball players were probably hated second only to US women soccer players. For example, Foxnews refused to even mention the Team USA.
The roster construction was a mess too. The NBA playoffs ran until July 20, 2021, and the Olympics began on July 25th. A lot of players dropped out of consideration either due to COVID concerns, travel concerns or injuries. Two mainstays of USA basketball Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony did not participate for these reasons. Only two players from previous Team USA’s were on the roster: Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.
The roster was filled out with a lot of newer younger players such as Bradley Beal, Kevin Love, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Jerami Grant, Jrue Holiday, Zach Lavine, Damian Lillard, Kris Middleton and Jayson Tatum. Gregg Popovich took over the helm as head coach with Steve Kerr, Lloyd Pierce, Jay Wright, and Ime Udoka as his assistants.
Due to training camp starting with many players on the roster still playing in the playoffs, several members of the USA select team were added to the roster for exhibition games, they included: Saddiq Bey, Darius Garland, John Jenkins, Keldon Jonson, Josh Magette, Dakota Mathias, and Cam Reynoolds.
The first exhibition game was held on July 10, 2021, in Las Vegas again Nigeria. The US came out terrible and had no flow to their offense, and could not hit three-pointers. The Nigerian team had a lot of NBA players such as Precious Achiuwa, Gabe Vincent and Miye Oni. The US had no answer to Vincent who torched them for 21 points as he lead Nigeria to a 90-87 upset win over the US. This is the first since 2002 that a US team had lost on American soil, and the first time an Olympic team has lost on American soil – excluding the 1980 team who played games against NBA players.
Two days later the US played Australia again in Las Vegas. Australia had spanked the US a couple years prior in an exhabition game for the 2019 World Cup, and they picked right back up where they left off. The Aussies shocked the American crowd with a 91-83 victory over the US. This marks the only time an American team has lost back-to-back games of any kind.
The third game a day later looked like another bad loss was incoming as the US played Argentina. The US missed their first six shots, but Argentina missed their first 8 at the US lead 2-0 midway through the first quarter. The US found some rhythm behind Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant and somehow coasted to a 108-80 victory to end the two game skid.
The fourth game, a rematch vs Australia, was cancelled after Grant and Beal tested positive for COVID-19. Grant would be out until the Olympic started and Beal was sent home and replaced on the roster by Keldon Johnson. At the same time Kevin Love reaggravated an old injury and was replaced on the roster by Javale McGree.
The last warmup game before the Olympics was against Spain, and despite Spain being ranked #1 in the world and being said to be the clear favorites to win the gold, the Spanish just did not look interested. The USA played bad in this game, Spain played worse – much worse. The US got a 83-76 victory before heading to Tokyo.
Heading to Tokyo the US was still down 3 players, as Booker, Holiday and Middleton had not joined the roster due to the Suns and Bucks playing in the NBA finals. Zach LaVine was held out due to COVID concerns and did not travel and neither did Grant.
Right wing media was having a field day with the US struggles, calling them “losers” “the worst team America has ever seen” and calling for them to just not even play in the games. NBA fans were also harsh on the team.
Qualification for the Olympics were similar to other Olympics with a couple of differences. Now the top 2 finishers in the Americas and Europe got automatic bids. Japan got an automatic bid as the host nation, Nigeria got Africa’s automatic bid, Argentina and the US got the Americas bid, Iran got Asia’s bid, France and Spain got Europe’s automatic bid and Australia got Oceania’s. No longer would the World Champions get an automatic bid. Four team qualified for the Olympics through a series of tournaments they were: Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, and Italy.
Again, there were Pot’s were teams of similar caliber were placed to avoid having them face each other in Group play. The US was in Pot 1 with Spain, and Australia.
One huge difference was that teams were no longer broke down into two Groups of 6 teams. Teams where now placed in 3 groups of 4 and the two two advanced automatically and the third team in each group having to make it off of point differential.
The US was placed in Group A with Czech Republic, France and Iran.
The first game for Team USA was on July 25, 2021, against France. France was a medal favorite and many said a dark house to win the gold medal. The US came out and played well in the first half, but completely faltered in the second half. The US could not stop Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert. France became the first team since 2004 to defeat the US in the Olympics with a 83-76 win.
After the loss to France, Team USA was already declared a dud. The players were heavily criticized for being more interested in social activism and social justice than in basketball.
The next game 3 days later was vs Iran, and the internet was full of jokes about how bad Iran was going to beat the Americans. The US players however, took no chances and put Iran away early. The US crushed the Iranian team 120-66
The third and final game in Group stage was vs the Czech Republic. The US came out flat once again and trailed by 10 points in the first quarter. It was quickly looking like the US may be out of the Olympics after just 3 games, because a loss to the Czechs likely ends it for the Americas. The US composed themselves and ended up taking the lead in the second quarter. After a strong 3rd quarter the game quickly fell out of reach fo the Czechs and the US won 119-84 to finish group play 2-1.
Because the US had such a massive point differential, they were the top team of the 2nd tier teams. Once again all the teams who advanced were put into a new Pot to try and avoid having the best teams play each other too early. The US was in the top pot (POT D) with Slovenia, France, and Australia.
The US once again would face their old nemesis Spain in the quarterfinals. For whatever reason, no matter how bad the US was playing or what went wrong, they would face Spain and just miraculously be okay. The game was close as the US had trouble defending Ricky Rubio who scored 38 points vs the US, but the US always seemed in control of the game. The game was tied at the half, but a 8-0 burst at the end up the third put the US up 6 going into the 4th quarter, where the US actually found its defense and ended up winning 95-81 and knocking Spain out of medal contention.
The US faced Australia in the semifinals. Australian forward Joe Ingles was talking a lot of crap to the US players, many he knew from playing against in the NBA, and he guaranteed an Australian victory. The US once again came out flat trailing 24-18 after one. The US cut the lead to 3 at the half, but a strong 3rd quarter where the Americans found their shots put the game out of reach for the Aussies who fell to the Americans 97-78.
France stunned Luka Doncic and the top seeded Slovenians 90-89 to set up a rematch with the USA.
This game looked like Frances chance to get that long elusive gold medal. The French had fallen short many times because of the Americans and this was their best team and they knew they could beat the Americans.
The game started off slow, and the Americans were careful not to challenge Gobert in the paint. The US lead by 4 after one and 7 at the half. The US would try to pull ahead, but France always withstood the US runs, on the flip side the US would also withstand any French runs to try and get the game closer. The US would hold onto its small lead most of the game and end up capturing another gold medal 87-82.
The gold was the 16th in American history. Kevin Durant was named the MVP of the Olympics and a FIBA All-star five was named with Australia’s Patty Mills and Spain’s Ricky Rubio as the guards, Slovenia’s Luka Doncic and USA’s Kevin Durant as the forwards, and France’s Rudy Gobert as the center.
The US won gold, France the silver, and Australia got their first ever international medal a bronze.
Middleton and Holiday became just the fifth and sixth players to win an Olympic gold medal and an NBA championship in the same calendar year, joining Michael Jordan (1992), Scottie Pippen (1992, 1996), Kyrie Irving (2016), and Lebron James (2012). They would later be joined by Jayson Tatum and Derrick White in 2024, and Holiday would joint Pippen as the only players to do it twice.
JeVale McGee became the 2nd generational basketball player to ever win a gold, joining his mother Pamela McGee who was a gold medalist for USA women’s basketball.
This team was probably the worst American basketball team in terms of its actual play. They never had any flow to their offense and never played good defense. Yet, unlike the 2004 team who had similar problems, this team persevered over the adversity and came together to win a the gold medal. They are the only US team to lose a game and still win the gold.
The media and fans who chastised them when they were losing never did apologize and called it or fluke. Still, this US team overcome adversity like none before it and was able to win despites its short comings.