FILE – US forward LeBron James runs with the ball during the London 2012 Olympic Games men’s gold medal basketball game between USA and Spain at the North Greenwich Arena in London on August 12, 2012. AFP PHOTO /EMMANUEL DUNAND
NBA superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry are among several top players interested in competing for the United States at next year’s Paris Olympics, according to multiple reports on Monday.
Two-time Olympic champion and four-time NBA champion James has been recruiting fellow NBA stars for a US squad that seeks a fifth gold medal in a row next year in France, according to The Athletic.
Curry, a four-time NBA champion guard with the Golden State Warriors, has expressed a desire to play on the Olympic squad guided by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, ESPN reported.
The news comes a day after a US team of 20-something NBA stars left the Fiba World Cup empty-handed following losses to eventual champion Germany in a semifinal and Canada in the bronze medal game.
James, a 38-year-old forward, led the USA to Olympic gold in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London but has not played since.
He knows the sting of defeat on the global stage, however, having been a reserve on the 2004 US squad that settled for bronze at the Athens Olympics and a 2006 team that took bronze at the Fiba World Cup.
US Stephen Curry during the 204 Fiba World Cup final against Turkey in Istanbul on September 12, 2010. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFE
James is not only interested in playing for Paris Olympic gold but has called fellow former NBA Most Valuable Players Curry and Kevin Durant hoping to entice them to play in 2024.
Two-time NBA champion Durant, a Phoenix Suns forward who turns 35 later this month, helped US Olympic gold-medal efforts in London as well as 2016 in Rio and in 2021 in Tokyo.
Curry has never played for the US Olympic squad but helped American clubs win the 2010 and 2014 World Cup crowns — their only such titles since 1994.
Others James has recruited for the 2024 US Olympic team, according to The Athletic, include his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, Golden State’s Draymond Green and Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
Phoenix’s Devin Booker, a three-time NBA All-Star, and 38-year-old Chris Paul of Golden State, a 2008 and 2012 gold medalist, are also among those ESPN said are interested in the Paris Olympics.
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