Cooper Flagg: Team USA will be ‘dominant’ in 2024 Olympics, has ‘no holes’

Cooper Flagg: Team USA will be ‘dominant’ in 2024 Olympics, has ‘no holes’

It remains to be determined whether or not Team USA will capture its fifth straight Olympic Gold (17th-ever) in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but we do know one thing: This is one of the most talented Team USA squads this century.

The squad is led a 39-year-old LeBron James, a 36-year-old Stephen Curry and a 35-year-old Kevin Durant. They’re not spring chickens. But there’s also an intriguing blend of youth, led by Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo and reigning NBA champion Jayson Tatum. It will only get more interesting when 17-year-old Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in 2025 who’s aiming to be a part of the 2027 FIBA World Cup team, arrives, among others.

Flagg, a player on Team USA’s Select Team, recently gave his thoughts about this year’s Olympic team after playing a pair of scrimmages against them.

“They can be any team they want to be,” he said, according to NBA reporter Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “They have no weaknesses, no holes. They can play any type of way and dominate. It’s going to be a dominant team that assets their will on everybody they see.”

Duke commit Cooper Flagg on what USA Basketball will bring to Paris Olympics: “They can be any team they want to be. They have no weaknesses, no holes. They can play any type of way and dominate. It’s going to be a dominant team that assets their will on everybody they see.” pic.twitter.com/IXov71oDv2

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 8, 2024

Anonymous NBA Head Coach says Cooper Flagg was best player on Team USA Select Team

Team USA took care of Canada–one of the presumptive favorites to give USA a run for its money–in their inaugural exhibition Wednesday 86-72. USA started in an 11-1 deficit, but the second unit led by Edwards, Adebayo and Anthony Davis provided a jolt.

I will disagree with Flagg in the sense that they have “no holes.” They don’t have reliable rim pressure or great guard play; one thing I’ll also be interested to see is if they have enough players willing to play a specific role–even if it’s one they’re not used to playing in a normal NBA context.

This is up there with the most talented Team USA teams in the 21st century–up there with the James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade-led teams that dominated the ’08 and ’12 Olympics. The ’92 Dream Team may go unmatched while the ’96 squad (sans Michael Jordan) was loaded as well.

International competition has also gotten better as well. Canada’s still very talented with Jamal Murray and Shai Gilgeous Alexander; France with Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama and international star guard Nando de Colo; Serbia with Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic.

The list goes on. Team USA may be stacked, but they’re not unbeatable on the right night–especially since most of these teams have been playing together for years. That synergy matters in international competition

USA will play four more scrimmages from July 15-22 against Australia, Serbia, South Sudan and Germany, respectively, before Group Play begins (against Serbia) on July 28.

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