Mission accomplished for the 2024 U.S. Olympic team, which survived a few small scares and one really big one on its way to a perfect record in this year’s Paris Games. With a fifth straight gold medal, the Americans provided a reminder of their dominance in men’s basketball, although much of the world clearly isn’t far behind.
From the time this year’s roster was assembled, the focus was on NBA legends LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant teaming up for the first time in international competition. All three are well into their 30s and are approaching the end of their basketball careers, but it’s hard to picture the U.S. emerging from France with gold medals if they hadn’t been involved.
Assuming James, Curry and Durant are retired by then, there will be some mighty big sneakers to fill in 2028. They were the team’s top three scorers, with Curry leading the way at 14.8 PPG. James led in rebounds (6.8), assists (8.5) and efficiency (23.5) as coach Steve Kerr leaned heavily on his veterans whenever things got tough.
Apart from those three, most of the roster should still be in the mix for Olympic spots in 2028, assuming good health and continued production. Anthony Edwards could be the NBA’s next superstar by then, and he’ll almost definitely be part of the guard corps. Devin Booker will probably be back, along with Tyrese Haliburton, who should have an expanded role after not playing much this year. Jrue Holiday and late addition Derrick White are less likely to return.
Jayson Tatum didn’t see the playing time he expected, but he could be one of the team’s top forwards in 2028. Big men Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo are all young enough to be back four years from now.
That leaves several open spots and plenty of good candidates to fill them. In the backcourt, it’s easy to picture Ja Morant returning to stardom if he can leave his legal issues and bad injury luck behind. Jalen Brunson should get serious consideration, and Tyrese Maxey is a rising star who will be in his prime by 2028. Other potential candidates include Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Trae Young, LaMelo Ball and Cade Cunningham.
After feeling slighted this year, Jaylen Brown should get an invitation in 2028. He and Tatum will likely be joined by Paolo Banchero if he continues on his current trajectory and Zion Williamson if he can overcome the injuries that have slowed his career. There are plenty of other strong candidates such as Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Evan Mobley.
And who knows how good Cooper Flagg or any of the highly touted rookies in the next two draft classes will become?
We want to get your feedback. If you were picking the 2028 team, what would it look like? Please leave your responses in the space below.
How could you mention Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham and not mention Scottie Barnes?
Holiday, Curry Durant and LeBron will most likely be retired but if they want to play then by all means.
Outside of that I’d have to give the nod to the guys that have the experience and have been there before. Haliburton, Edwards, Booker, Tatum, Adebayo, Embiid, Davis and White. That is if they all want to play. Injuries and age may take the last three out of the equation. That leaves me between 5-8 players. If we assume that Embiid and Davis are gone due to age/or injuries I’m going to need a couple bigs. Turner and Holmgren would be perfect for the international game as they can protect the rim and play the perimeter. I’m going to need another PG so out of respect is give the nod to Brunson over Morant or Cunningham. There’s no replacements for LeBron or Durant that can replicate what they bring but by then Scottie Barnes will be in his prime and while he’s nowhere LeBron’s level he should be about as close as you’re going to get. To round things out I’d give Jaylen Brown a shot if he wants it.
PG- Haliburton, Brunson
SG- Booker, Edwards
SF- Brown
PF- Tatum, Barnes
C- Adebayo, Turner, Holmgren
Barnes and Holmgren are versatile enough to fill multiple positions dependent on matchups.
Those 10 most likely then the rest would depend on what if the vets like Embiid, White and Davis want to play. With players like Mobley,Morant, Mitchell and Banchero as alternates.
Didn’t know scottie Barnes mom was on hoopsrumors welcome Mrs. Barnes
The real question is how Barnes stands out when he has to share the ball with perennial superstar RJ barret. Raptors might not lose a game between now and ’28
Impossible to predict who will be on the team in 4 years because there will be players that will come out of nowhere and be all stars. Example 4 years ago you wouldn’t have put Haliburton, White, Edwards, Holiday, and Embiid on the team.
White got a last minute invite bc he was t doing anything this summer and asking him kept picking a star over another star like brown over Brunson. White will be the answer to a trivia question one day.
POINT GUARD
Curry (40), Kyrie (36), Brunson (32), Fox (30), Trae (30), Morant (29), Haliburton (28), Cade (27), LaMelo (27), Maxey (27), Suggs (27)
After this performance, who’s to say Curry can’t come back again. Maybe he isn’t the starter but nobody is going to have higher value in a 10-minute role. His defense in FIBA isn’t going to fall off enough to cancel out him being the best shooter in the world.
Haliburton is easy, but after that it’s a lot of small / ball-dominant guys. Cade probably has the most upside. Suggs could fill the Jrue/White role.
SHOOTING GUARD
White (34), Mikal Bridges (32), Booker (31), Bane (30), Edwards (27)
Way more straight forward, Booker/Edwards are locks.
SMALL FORWARD
Kawhi (37), Brown (31), Ingram (31), OG (31), Tatum (30), Jalen Williams (27), Brandon Miller (25)
I like prime Jalen Williams > the non-Celtics
POWER FORWARD
KD (40), Towns (32), JJJ (29), Zion (28), Barnes (27), Mobley (26), Banchero (25)
JJJ and Mobley will be needed to pass the torch from AD/Embiid.
CENTER
AD (35), Embiid (34), Turner (32), Bam (31), Claxton (29), Chet (26), Lively (24)
Ditto for Chet. It’s a big dropoff if AD/Embiid are too old/injured at this point of their careers. Most centers are international (there’s only so many 7-footers worldwide) so this could be the biggest pain point w/ Wemby hitting his prime and Jokic continuing to Jokic.
Missed:
SG Donovan Mitchell (31) – Not a great FIBA fit but he’ll be better option than Kyrie and a few of the PGs like Trae
C Jarrett Allen (29) – Better shot than Claxton/Lively
Excellent analysis tbh, kudos to you!
How could anyone leave out Bronny James?
Three locks for 2o28:
43 year old Lebron James
Bronny James
Bryce James (I heard he is more talented than his brother)
All of this guys are good players, but no one can replace what Curry did in semifinals and finals. If it wasn’t his out of the world shooting, US team would lose against Serbia. Without LeBron, Curry and Durant, I doubt Embiid and Davis would want to play next time. It’s gonna be too risky and they are soft mentaly. Embiid already mentioned he wants to play for Cameroon (You can’t change national team like socks, man).
The biggest problem with next Olympics team is who’s gonna be leader of that team
The bigger problem is who will be the coach.
USA will need Tatum and Brown and I doubt any Celtic will play for Steve Kerr.
Team USA has a lot of issue and they get even worse if Brown and Tatum choose not to play, which I think is likely, especially if Kerr is the coach.
Why would Tatum go if he is going to sit on the bench the whole Olympics games? He wont.
Kerr is that bad of a coach he will double down again and sit Tatum.
No Fair! they didn’t play all Celtics! We are taking are ball home.
Tatum did nothing to deserve minutes on this team and when he did play he threw bricks and turned the ball over. Overrated. Boston won because Tatum was 1 of like 7 star players they have, including Brown and Holiday.
Davey we did discover that Celtics fans are terrible. he is probably red sox fan too the worse in MLB with no respect to the game. they feel the world revolves around Boston. Now i will cheer against Boston Celtics.
@arc89 Steph owns a lot of the western conference teams, but one we kinda forgot is how much he owns Boston and their fans cannot stand it. 2022 lives forever! hahah
Jalen Brunson would be the leader of the team. Steve Kerr raved about his leadership qualities and Brunson has played a lot of international games.
Time for new leaders to step up in 2028.
Spo probably gets the HC job …… Lue, Few, JVG should be back.
Book, Bam, Ant, Haliburton, Tatum should be locks …… Brown, Banchero, Maxey, JJJ, Holgrem and Bridges can be good choices.
Assuming they’re healthy, KAT, Zion and Mitchell should be good choices as well ……. assuming he keeps out of jail, Ja might be worth a look as well.
No Brunson, Ingram please, their iso-heavy talents won’t be a good fit for the FIBA game.
Curry will very likely play next time, but Lebron might not. Ant man gotta be team USA’s longer-term future but I’d also like to see Team USA built better, with more excellent role players who know how to play around the very best in the league. Holiday was a perfect choice, but all the 6th man award vote-getters should be considered.
If Curry is playing in 4 years he will be a bench player just for instant offense. I very much doubt he will be playing but LeBron, Durant, and Curry in the 3 on 3 team would be great to see.
Curry might win NBA MVP at 40. We cannot put a ceiling on that glorious man until he visibly starts to decline, which we wont know until he averages under 20 points after a full season.
Starters:
Morant Booker Brown Tatum Bam
Bench:
Haliburton Ant Scottie Paolo Chet
Reserves:
LaMelo Mobley
Not really sure why Spida Mitchell wasn’t included on this year’s squad, because he is certainly a top player in the league, but it’s hard to imagine the 28 team without a player of his caliber in terms of on-court skills and leadership.
So in other words the US could be in trouble
US is in real trouble.
Especially if Tatum and Brown decide to politely decline, which seems very likely at this point.
I am happy USA won, but USA Bball burned a few bridges with their “Anything Lebron and Steph wants” team. Its hilarious bc USA could have fielded a younger team, like 2020, and won if they hired a Coach who can actually coach bball and not just ride Steph game.
Not the only one saying this. Bill Simmons brought this up the other day. Its highly unlikely that Tatum plays again.
Take Brown and Tatum out and the USA wings are not very good, which is usually their strength. No Embiid and you go to war with just Bam and AD (who also might not play bc of age) and you have a very weak USA team.
No, Team USA is not “in real trouble” if Tatum and Brown decline. That is by far the silliest thing I have ever read on this site. USA has literally 250+ candidates for this team who make all other countries teams and the right group of even non-stars could crush any country. Team USA even going all-role players would still dominate the series.
I wouldn’t want Tatum & Brown to play on that 2028 US team. These two are heading in to their primes and it will be more important for them to keep their focus on winning NBA championships not playing for medals. Tatum now has two Gold medals and I just can’t see Brown playing for Grant Hill after all of that Nike drama.
After re-signing literally every major contributor from the 23/24 Celtics Finals team, their now heading into their championship run with two unselfish superstars surrounded by the best supporting cast in the NBA. The real fun is just starting. ;)
The fun will end when those injuries hit – trust us GSW fans, we know what it really takes to be a dynasty. This Celtics team is top heavy, if you stay healthy you will be top 4, but if Brown and White get hurt, welcome to the play-in!
You Celtics fans have only 2 titles in the 2000s century, you are babies to us, the modern dynasty team, your 4+ time 2000s champs, the Warriors!
I want nothing more for Steph to destroy you again like he did in 2022. Classless Celtics fans deserve nothing.
Classless. Bye Felicia, you’re going on Mute.
Everybody is overlooking probably one of the best players to be, cooper Flagg..
Kerr needs to be gone with his clear bias towards the western conference players..
Morant does not deserve to be on a team representing Americans..
Embiid will not be able to compete on the international level.. he comes off the bench and succeeds.
PG: Haliburton, Maxey, Brunson
SG: Booker, ANT, Jaylen Brown
SF: Tatum, Banchero, Cooper Flagg
C: Bam, Embiid
1 spot for a young player
I think for 2028, the US needs to pick a team that has complimentary players not just the top 12 Americans in the league:
PG: Haliburton, Maxey, Brunson
SG: Booker, ANT, Mitchell
SF: Tatum, Banchero, Cooper Flagg
PF/Mikal Bridges
C. AD, Bam, Embiid