It seems like the Boston Celtics won their 18th banner just the other day. Still, somehow, some way, the Olympics are a week away, and the competition in men’s basketball is littered with possibly the most talent in the history of the Olympic Games.
Team USA is the heavy favorite, with a roster that people are comparing to the Dream Team. However, other nations are loaded with NBA players and wily FIBA veterans looking at the Americans as a conquerable villain when games get underway on July 27 in Lille. The Minnesota Timberwolves are one of the better-represented franchises in the 33rd Olympiad, with four players heading to France with dreams of bringing a gold medal to their home country.
Anthony Edwards is the self-declared No. 1 option for the most talented Team USA roster since at least the Redeem Team in 2008. Rudy Gobert hopes to take the twin tower system that worked well for the Timberwolves this year and copy-paste for Team France alongside Victor Wembanyama. Nickeil Alexander-Walker is part of a Canadian team looking to build on its bronze medal at the World Cup last summer. And newly-signed Aussie Joe Ingles is back for his fifth Olympic Games. He presumably has one last shot at a gold medal. The Olympics are about the spirit of the game, sportsmanship, and all that bull—-. However, only one Wolves player will return home with bragging rights for another four years.
Edwards has the easiest path to a gold medal. The United States has won 16 out of 20 gold medals in the event’s history. The few times they failed to bring home the gold was when they were cheated out of the gold medal in 1972. The Soviet Union was allowed to replay a last-second inbounds play three times until they got things right to beat the United States at the height of the Cold War. The United States boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow.
Arvydas Sabonis hammered them in 1988, leading to the Dream Team’s creation in 1992. In 2004, America took its foot off the gas and struggled to secure a bronze medal with an inexperienced roster. This Team USA roster that I want to give a nickname that I’m not allowed to repeat here for copyright and decency concerns (hint: it rhymes with dream team) is so loaded they are -500 favorites to win gold. All-NBA players like Edwards, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jayson Tatum will likely come off the bench. A starting lineup that includes Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, and maybe Anthony Davis reads like an all-decade team.
Team USA is also probably in the easiest group for pool play. They just beat the crap out of Serbia in a tune-up game in Abu Dhabi, and South Sudan and Puerto Rico don’t pose much of a threat. It will take a miracle for any other country to beat Team USA, let alone come within 15 points of them in any game. All signs point to Anthony Edwards adding a gold medal to his already impressive resume just five days after his 23rd birthday.
However, Canada has the best odds to upset Team USA and shock the world on their way to the country’s first gold medal. Led by NBA MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Lu Dort, and NAW, the Canadians earned the bronze medal at the 2023 World Cup by beating Anthony Edwards and the Americans 127-118 in an overtime thriller. SGA and Murray provide enough star power and offensive juice that Team USA could be in trouble if they get hot. But the rest of the roster, while solid, can’t stack up against the Americans. NAW will get his chance to see if he can shut down Anthony Edwards if they face off in the tournament’s knockout stages. Still, Minnesota’s seventh man will enjoy a similar role on Team Canada and be asked to play great defense and drain a few threes off the bench.
The home team has the third-best odds of winning the gold medal, and I think I have the most likely team to confound Team USA and surprise the world. Rudy Gobert is coming off his record-tying fourth DPOY campaign, the runner-up being his 20-year-old frontcourt partner, Victor Wembanyama.
Wemby is the wildcard of the tournament. He just carded one of the best individual rookie seasons in NBA history but couldn’t lead the San Antonio Spurs out of the NBA gutter in his first season. If Wembanyama can flourish with actual NBA talent around him, the Americans might not have a proper answer for the host nation’s size. Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo are no scrubs and arguably better players than Wembanyama and Gobert. But crazier things have happened. Wembanyama could see the home Olympic Games as a sign from whoever created him to be the perfect basketball player that now is the summer to leave the rest of the sport in his 7’5” wake.
Ingles and the Australians have the longest odds of any Timberwolves-represented team to medal, and sharing a group with Canada and Spain might spell an early exit for the Jomosexuals out there. The Boomers are talented and scrappy. However, the roster mostly includes NBA backups and Josh Giddey. Therefore, a medal might just be out of reach for the 36-year-old Ingles, who the Wolves signed as an affordable Kyle Anderson replacement.
The Olympics are always a great time for basketball fans to invest in two weeks of high-level basketball scheduled for the dead zone of this offseason. This year, Wolves fans should be glued to their TVs as the Timberwolves have a legitimate shot to sweep the medal round completely with players on the three favorites. Ant and Team USA are the favorites to win gold. Still, don’t count out Rudy Gobert or NAW to make some noise in the tournament.
