Even With Lack of Time Together, USA Men’s Basketball Shows It Can Beat Anyone

There are things to clean up over the next few exhibition games, but a team with this much firepower still has the inside track to win Olympic gold.

Tatum (10) finished with 8 points off the bench Wednesday. / Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

It was USA Basketball 86, Canada 72 on Wednesday. 

Up next: Olympic gold.

Officially, USA-Canada was a meaningless exhibition game. A chance for two North American neighbors to shake the rust off before boarding planes overseas for the real thing. But last summer the Canadians blitzed the U.S. in the bronze medal game of the World Cup. On Wednesday, they waved the white flag early in the fourth quarter. 

Seriously—is anyone competing with this U.S. squad? The game has grown exponentially since the Dream Team days, when Charles Barkley was scrapping with hapless Angolans and Cuban players were posing for pictures on the floor. The field in France is excellent this summer. Nikola Jokic will lead Serbia, Giannis Antetokounmpo will play for Greece and good luck scoring in the paint on a French team backstopped by Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. 

Still, this U.S. team is loaded. Arguably the most talented roster in USA Basketball history. NBA success—and the grueling schedule that comes with it—has kept Stephen Curry off Olympic rosters. But when LeBron James called last fall to gauge Curry’s interest, he jumped at the chance. Shooting was a problem for the 2023 World Cup team. The greatest sniper in NBA history fixes that. 

To solve a size issue, the U.S. added Joel Embiid, a Cameroonian-born, French/U.S. citizen whose recruitment over the last year felt like free agency. Embiid fouled out in 12 minutes against Canada and will have to adjust to FIBA officiating. But he collected six rebounds in those minutes. With Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo, the U.S. has a center rotation that can match up with anyone. 

And a roster that should beat everyone. Even with the loss of Kawhi Leonard—who will be replaced by Boston Celtics guard Derrick White—the U.S. goes a dozen deep. Ten current All-Stars. Four ex-MVPs. Early in the fourth quarter, Canada emptied its bench. When the U.S. pulled its starters, All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton stayed on the floor. 

It will be choppy at times. What international teams lack in talent they make up for in continuity. This U.S. team has been together for only a few days. In an early scrimmage, they just snuck by a select team led by a 17-year-old. Against Canada, Team USA scored 14 points in the first quarter before blowing the game open in the second half. 

“We’ll get there,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s just going to take some time.” 

Time, of course, is not an ally. The U.S. will head to Abu Dhabi this week for exhibitions against Australia and Serbia before a stop in London to play South Sudan and Germany. They will use practices to install a system and games to fine-tune it. In FIBA, the rules are different. On a team filled with All-Stars, roles will be, too. 

“We focus on what we know is going to beat us in a FIBA game,” Kerr said. “I’m not going to jump on the guys for a mistake that they might make. Dribbling the ball out of bounds, making a bad pass. I’m going to jump on them for FIBA mistakes.

“It’s a different game entirely. The rules are different, the rhythm, the flow. All these players are used to getting 20 shots per game. They might only get five or six. They have to get acclimated to FIBA and to this style … trying to get them to understand what wins and what loses a FIBA game.”

Wednesday’s exhibition was Team USA’s first chance to learn. The ball was moving in the first quarter—maybe a little too much. “A little too unselfish,” noted USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill. Possessions looked disjointed. The uncertainty that comes with playing with new faces was plainly evident. The U.S. committed 15 turnovers and shot just 30.4% from three.

Said Davis, “Offensively we were, to keep it frank, pretty terrible.”

When they had to dial it up, though—yeesh. Defense will be this team’s calling card. The interior muscle of Embiid and Davis. The versatility of Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards and (eventually) White. The intellect of James. Canada, among the non-U.S. contenders for gold, shot 33.8%. The U.S. had 11 steals and nine blocks. 

“That’s where we’re going to hang our hat,” Embiid said. “And offensively it’s going to come.”

It will. The U.S. has too much firepower. Curry connected on three of his six three-point attempts. Edwards scored 13 off the bench. Jayson Tatum (eight points) had some strong drives to the rim. Meanwhile, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer (Kevin Durant, who is resting a minor calf injury) watched the game in street clothes. 

There are things to clean up, sure. But no reason to believe they won’t. 

“I’ve got to coach them,” Kerr said. “They have got to get better, they know that. We have got to get better as a staff. Every day we are focused on that.”