Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was, by all measures, the leader of the gold-medal-winning Team USA at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Despite being the oldest player on a team that included much younger stars like Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum and more, it was James that led the way over the course of the three-week international event.
Edwards played more of a spot-minute role with Team USA in 2024. He struggled at times with the physicality of FIBA play and was inconsistent shooting the ball from the field. He had games where he looked like one of the best players in the world, but also had games where he couldn’t really be trusted to play significant minutes.
James, though, loved having Edwards on the team in Paris. And beyond the talent and what Edwards brings to the game on the court, James loved the energy that the young Minnesota Timberwolves star brought off the court, via the Gojo and Golic show on DraftKings:
“I thought that was the best thing about our team. We had the vets, we had myself and Steph and KD and AD and Jrue Holiday. And then you had the younger guys. You had Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker. And to see the excitement that Ant-Man played with, showed off the floor. He wanted to compete against everybody, you probably saw him wanting to compete versus Team USA ping pong team. He said he could beat people at swimming. He just wanted to compete versus everybody and to see that electric energy from a young guy, for us as the older guys remembering at one point having all that energy, it was definitely a blessing to be around him and the rest of those young guys.”
Edwards has become one of the game’s most fiery competitors as his star has ascended over the last year. For a player who was criticized during the draft for not “loving” the game of basketball enough, he has proven that he is a fierce competitor above all else.
And while James and Edwards likely won’t team up again, the former could feel good knowing that Team USA is going to be left in the hands of players like the latter for the next few tournaments.
LeBron James describes unique Olympic experience
In the same show, LeBron James described his entire 2024 Olympics experience. He felt that it was extremely unique and different from his other Olympic Games given who he was teamed up with and who his coaching staff consisted of. He explicitly pointed out playing with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis while playing under coaches Erik Spoelstra and Tyronn Lue.
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