Once again, Team USA’s men’s basketball team is the heavy favorite at the Olympics, seeking its fifth straight gold medal.
But it is still unlikely — even for one of the most loaded teams assembled in any sport’s history — that it will cruise through the Games like the Dream Team did in 1992, when it won by an average of 44 points per game.
The world is too good, thanks to the influence of the Dream Team. NBA talent fills too many other rosters.
Canada — which dropped an exhibition against Team USA, 86-72, on Wednesday — has the talent to pull an upset, led by MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray. France has the most intimidating interior defense imaginable with Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. Serbia has the world’s best player in Nikola Jokic, along with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jovic. Greece has perhaps the world’s second-best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Germany has Dennis Schröder and the Wagner brothers.
