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NBA Great Steve Smith Boasts Pic With Barack Obama And Other Legends At Team USA Game

Shandel Richardson

Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN 8/9/10 President Barack Obama addresses a large crowd on the University of Texas at Austin campus inside the Gregory Gymnasium to talk about higher education. He was warmly received and spoke passionately about sending more Americans to college. Obama waves to the crowd before making his way through the audience for handshakes.
Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN 8/9/10 President Barack Obama addresses a large crowd on the University of Texas at Austin campus inside the Gregory Gymnasium to talk about higher education. He was warmly received and spoke passionately about sending more Americans to college. Obama waves to the crowd before making his way through the audience for handshakes. / Ricardo B. Brazziell / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former United States President Barack Obama has always expressed his love for sports, especially basketball.

During his presidency, he often filled out NCAA Tournament brackets to show his passion for the game. On Wednesday, he held true to form by attending the Team USA victory against Canada in their first exhibition game before heading to Paris for the Olympics later this month.

After delivering a pregame speech to the team, Obama sat courtside at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.


"It is true that I am the hooper in chief," Obama told the team.

Obama then said he had full confidence in this year's Olympic team that features LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards.


"I’m pretty confident that they’re going to be bringing back the gold and representing us the way we should be represented around the world," Obama said.

Team USA coach Steve Kerr thinks the same.

"Good first game for us," Kerr said. "We are just starting with four days of practice. You could see the rust on us offensively early. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, [but] I loved the defensive intensity and the work on the glass. It was a good first effort on how we want to establish play moving forward."

At some point, Obama met up with some former NBA superstars from the 1980s and `90s. He posed for a courtside photo with Steve Smith, Reggie Miller, Shawn Marion, Tim Hardaway and Gary Payton. Smith posted the pic on Facebook beneath the caption: "Game of Basketball will take you all around the world."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson

SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com