Inside The Panthers

Former Pitt G Named Finalist for Olympic Team

The Pitt Panthers could have a representative on the US Olympic team this summer.

Stephen Thompson

Former Pitt G Named Finalist for Olympic Team
Former Pitt G Named Finalist for Olympic Team /
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PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers could be represented on the United States men's national basketball team this summer when Paris, France hosts the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. 

Former Pitt guard and Cranberry Township native, Cameron Johnson, is on the shortlist of NBA players named finalists to make the roster for this summer's game, the league announced this week.  

This group of finalists, which includes surefire Hall of Famers like Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, will be trimmed to make the official 12-team roster after the NBA season concludes in mid-June and the team will begin international competition on July 10th in Las Vegas, Nevada against Team Canada. 

Team USA will be led by head coach Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors) and assisted by Mark Few (Gonzaga), Ty Lue (Los Angeles Clippers) and Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat).

Those same coaches helped lead Johnson and the rest of Team USA to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 FIBA World Cup last summer. 

Johnson came to Brooklyn as part of the massive return package for Kevin Durant, who the Nets shipped out to the Phoenix Suns in the middle of this past season and he thrived in a larger role in Brooklyn. He averaged 16.6 points, 2.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds while playing more minutes per night (30.8) than he ever had in his career. When it was all said and done, Johnson's 25 games with the Nets helped lift his 2022-23 campaign into the best of his four seasons as a professional.

This season, Johnson has started all 34 games he's appeared in for the Nets and is scoring 13.9 points per game and recording career-highs in rebounds (4.8) and assists (2.6) while knocking down 39.2% of his 3-point shots. 

In college, Johnson, a native of Cranberry Township, spent three years playing for his hometown team, Pitt. He starred for the Panthers, averaging 11.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while making 41.5% of his 3-pointers in 2016-17 before opting to transfer to North Carolina.

His production exploded when he moved south to Chapel Hill. Johnson averaged 15 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest and made 41% of his 3-pointers for the Tar Heels before being selected 11th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

Johnson has played in the NBA Finals before but this would be one of the biggest stages he's ever played on, if he's able to land a spot on the Olympic roster. 

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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