Team USA will never be a clear favorite again

The squad can beat any team by 30 and still not win the tournament. The world has caught up, and superstars aren't showing up for non-Olympic action.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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La Rendicion de Breda; Diego Velazquez; 1634-35

As I get my head right for the 2023 FIBA World Cup (Men’s Edition) in a couple weeks, I find myself focused on trying to assess where this version of Team USA grades out compared to those World Cup teams before it.

The most obvious touchpoint is 2002, which was the cracking of the facade of eternal domination for the USA Basketball men. But there’s also 2006, another year in which Team USA fell short. Or the surprisingly dominant 2010 run in the afterglow of the Redeem Team. The 2014 reign.

Of course, you wonder about 2019, the nightmare Gregg Popovich tournament that had folks wondering if Team USA was destined to fall flat in the Olympics again.

The Americans rebounded to win the Olympic tournament (held in 2021 instead of 2020 due to COVID). That leaves the infamous 2004 Games as the only Olympic tournament since the Dream Team in which the United States didn’t take gold.

But the record hasn’t been that sturdy on the World Cup side. Frankly, NBA players, media and fans do not care as much about the World Cup as they do about the Olympics. So the player pool for the World Cup is always a little worse. The results speak to this: in eight Olympiads since NBA players joined the fray, Team USA has won seven golds and one bronze. In seven World Cups in that span, Team USA has won three golds, two bronzes and missed the medal stand twice.

At the World Cup, Team USA just tends to be another team.

So where does this edition fit? Let’s take a look at the pedigree of players on each squad since 2002 and see where the team rates.