As the clock keeps ticking to the start of the 2024 Olympics, USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr has some big decisions to iron out when training camp starts on Saturday that could include LeBron James coming off the bench.
According to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, USA Basketball sources said that scenario seems unlikely to happen even though there is a plausible way to build a starting five without the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
Speaking to reporters about the starting lineup last week, Kerr said he and his staff haven’t made any final decisions right now:
“It’s a great question, and my staff and I have talked about it quite a bit. It’s a good problem to have, but I’m guessing that all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday. So how do you pick five out of 12? The idea is you find combinations that click and, and you find two-way lineups that can be effective at both ends.
“So our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing.”
Under any normal circumstance, James would be a lock for the starting unit. The 2024 USA Basketball roster is among the most stacked groups ever put together after Kerr confirmed last week that all 12 players—including Kawhi Leonard—were expected to be healthy for the start of training camp.
Vardon cited Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant as three locks to start for the American team.
The primary players who could be competing with James for one of the other two spots are Leonard and Anthony Davis.
Davis, in particular, could be in the starting lineup because of the defensive and rebounding issues Team USA had in the FIBA World Cup as a result of having a smaller roster. Their opponents had 19 more offensive rebounds (98 to 79) across eight games.
Germany had a 12-8 advantage in offensive rebounds in a 113-111 win over the U.S. in the semifinal.
Leonard remains a strong defensive player at this stage of his career, but he’s not at the same level as when he won back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Needless to say, it would be strange to see James not in the starting lineup for any team he plays on. The 20-time All-Star has only come off the bench twice in 1,492 career NBA games.
This year will mark James’ first appearance in the Olympics since 2012. He has won two gold medals and one bronze with Team USA in his storied career. The Paris Games will likely be the final run with USA Basketball for the 39-year-old.
James has played a total of 68 games for the U.S. dating back to 2004. He has averaged 14.4 points on 60.1 percent shooting, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest in international competition.
The United States will open training camp in Las Vegas on Saturday. Its first game at the Olympics will be against Serbia on July 28 at 11:15 a.m. ET.