Ahead of Team USA’s gold medal game against France in men’s basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Saturday, NBA and USA Basketball legend Carmelo Anthony picked his all-time Team USA starting five.
In an interview Friday with BasketNews (h/t HoopsHype), Melo chose himself, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley:
While it can be argued that omission of Michael Jordan is somewhat surprising, Anthony noted that he picked players who “had a career in FIBA” and passed over MJ for his list since he “only played in that one Olympics.”
Although Jordan’s only Olympics as a professional player was as a member of the original Dream Team in 1992, he actually played in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles as well, helping lead the U.S. to a gold medal before making his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls.
Anthony never won an NBA championship during his career despite being a 10-time All-Star, but he is one of the most prolific Olympic basketball players of all time.
After disappointingly winning bronze with Team USA in 2004, Melo was part of three consecutive gold medal teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Prior to the 2020 Summer Olympics, Anthony was Team USA’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic play with 336 points, but Durant surpassed him in Tokyo.
KD, who has 503 career Olympic points entering Saturday’s gold medal game against host France, is going for his fourth consecutive gold medal. If he gets it, he will break a tie with Anthony for the most Olympic gold medals in men’s basketball by an individual player.
Despite the fact that LeBron is playing in his first Olympics in 12 years, he has also surpassed Anthony on Team USA’s Olympic scoring list, placing him second behind Durant with 344 points.
Like Anthony, James was part of the bronze medal team in 2004 before winning back-to-back golds in 2008 and 2012.
LeBron came back to Team USA for one last hurrah in Paris, and despite the fact that he is the oldest player in the NBA at 39, he has arguably been the best player at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry was the main driving force behind Team USA’s 17-point comeback to beat Serbia in the semifinals, but James wasn’t far behind, as he contributed a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Kobe was only part of two Olympic teams, but he was the face of the Redeem Team, which was the superstar-laden squad put together in 2008 meant to make up for the failures of 2004.
Bryant put the team on his back at times in a 118-107 win over Spain in the 2008 gold medal game, recording 20 points, six assists and three rebounds.
Melo gave the fifth and final spot on his all-time Team USA starting five to Barkley, and it is difficult to argue with the decision given what Chuck did at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
The original Dream Team is arguably the most-celebrated basketball team of all time, and Barkley was the biggest standout, leading the squad with 18.0 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.4 assists.
Barkley was also part of Dream II in 1996, leading that gold medal-winning team in scoring as well with 12.4 points per contest.
Jordan is actually just ahead of Barkley on the Team USA Olympic scoring list with 256 points to Barkley’s 231, as Jordan led the Americans with 17.1 points per game in 1984 and was second to Barkley in 1992 with 14.9 points per game.
MJ would be a perfectly suitable choice for an all-time Team USA starting lineup, but with Melo seemingly placing emphasis on those who appeared in multiple Olympics while they were NBA players, Jordan didn’t make the cut.