The Olympics are finally here, and the U.S. hopes to maintain their illustrious record of six straight medal total victories. Since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the U.S. had only failed to earn the most gold medals in the Olympic games one time, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Olympics seemed to have lost the aura it once held even a decade ago. The days of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are over. However, there are still dozens of athletes to watch and cheer for, here are just a few.

The first-ever 🇺🇸 #3x3MNT to play in the Olympics 🙌@usab3x3 has selected Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Kareem Maddox & Dylan Travis to the 2024 USA 3×3 Men’s National Team! pic.twitter.com/ewK033wPtM

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) March 26, 2024

The most surprising part of the lead up to the Olympics has been how vulnerable the U.S. Men’s basketball team has been, while almost losing two pre-Olympic exhibition games. The U.S. only beat South Sudan by one point at the end of the game due to a LeBron James lay-up. And, just barely edged out Germany by four points thanks to the 100th or so time LeBron closed out the game going on an eight-point streak to close out Germany. The fact that a 39-year-old LeBron has to will this team to victory is concerning. With so many young, hungry, players you would think they would be able to dominate these teams. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers did have to drop out of playing with the team and, Kevin Durant is nursing a calf strain, but we should still be dominating.

Plain and simple, the world is catching up to U.S. basketball.

It’s astonishing that a team like South Sudan almost set the basketball world on fire by beating the U.S. They are a well-coached team, by former Laker and Bull, Luol Deng. Still, the U.S. were favored by over 30 points, and for it to come down to the final seconds should be a wake-up call. A new Olympic record shows that, 81 of 144 players (12 teams, 12 players) have played in the NBA in these Olympics. This is a huge jump from the Tokyo Games (2020) having only 65 players that have/do play in the NBA. The sport only continues to expand at the international level.

Olympic debutants South Sudan 🇸🇸 – the youngest country in the world founded in 2011 have pushed the USA 🇺🇸 to the edge 101-100 in a friendly game in London ahead of the Paris 2024 Games. The Bright Stars face the USA again on July 31 in Group C. pic.twitter.com/TaEYcJE5QK

— Usher Komugisha (@UsherKomugisha) July 20, 2024

Hopefully, with an all-star and all-NBA roster, the U.S. men’s team can play lights out basketball together. If they do finally click, this team could be one of the best USA teams in the last 15 years. The U.S. first Olympic game will be against Serbia on Sunday, July 28th at 9:15AM MST. Serbia does have the three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, but the U.S. beat them 105 to 79 just a week ago. They will then try to prove they are still the best in the world against South Sudan on Wednesday July 31st at 1PM MST. And their final group stage game will be on Saturday, August 3rd versus Puerto Rico at 9:15Am MST. With high expectations, let’s hope the U.S. can bring back that gold! 🥇 🥇 🥇 🥇