LeBron James voted as Team USA’s best player ahead of 2024 Olympics

LeBron James voted as Team USA’s best player ahead of 2024 Olympics

We are less than three weeks away from Team USA’s inaugural Group Stage game in the 2024 Paris Olympics against Serbia, which will be held on July 28.

Over the weekend, USA Basketball had multiple scrimmages between the 12-man Team USA squad and the USA Select Team, which featured multiple promising amateurs, such as Duke commit Cooper Flagg, Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Charlotte’s Brandon Miller, Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr. and Sacramento’s Keegan Murray, among others.

According to a player poll of Olympic camp participants conducted by The Athletic, LeBron James, who’s participating in his first Olympic games in over a decade, was dubbed the team’s best player.

“That’s what I told my brother after the first day, I was like dude’s 40 and he’s the best player on the court,” Amen Thompson, a player on the select team who voted, said, according to The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon and Shams Charania.

Other players to receive votes were Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards and Jrue Holiday–who all received two votes apiece. Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Kawhi Leonard were the other vote-getters.

LeBron James was voted the top player at Team USA training camp in a straw poll of Olympic participants, per @joevardon and @sam_amick.

"Dude’s 40 and he’s the best player on the court." said Amen Thompson

Thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/uRVrboxArw

— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) July 10, 2024

“You feel and see his presence on the court,” Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, the Select Team head coach, said. “You see exactly what he’s doing, the way he’s communicating, the way he’s talking, getting guys in position. There’s a level of focus on the seriousness of understanding the moment that he just continues to show.”

It’s absurd that James, 40, was the overwhelming winner given his age. He may not be “the best player in the world” anymore, but the NBA’s all-time leading scorer still has plenty of juice in the tank and is aiming to capture his third Olympic Gold.

James last participated in the Olympics in 2012, averaging 13.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 24.9 minutes, shooting 60.3 percent from the floor with a remarkable 66.2 true-shooting percentage. He scored 18 or more points in four of their final five games, including a 19-point, 7-rebound performance on 8-of-13 shooting in their seven-point victory over Spain to secure Team USA’s second straight Gold.

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Team USA is loaded with star power, including Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid and Devin Booker, among others. It has a good blend of youth and experience, though France, Serbia and Canada all expect to give them a run for their money.

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