Although winners of gold in Rio in 2016, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team wasn’t up to “snuff” for many. No LeBron, no Harden, no Curry, to name the small list of perennial All-Stars who sat out in Rio. However, the US sent the much scrutinized “C” team into the Summer Olympics instead with smaller market names in Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan, and Kyle Lowry. But expectations remained the same, they haven’t wavered since USA Basketball’s inception: Anything less than gold doesn’t suffice.
With top-tier NBA stars deciding to sit out in ’16, the group carried a seemingly similar plan this past summer before the FIBA World Cup in China, as the NBA’s best, including Beal, sat out of FIBA World Cup play, instead deciding to focus on personal endeavors.