is working from an embarrassment of riches in the backcourt. But Paul’s going to be 35 when the Tokyo Games tip off, Lowry’s going to be 34, and the U.S. Ditto Lowry, who transformed himself into a top-flight NBA player and earned his stripes for the national team with his dogged defense off Coach K’s bench. It feels downright rude to leave Paul, the heroic commander of the American forces in London, off this list if he wants to be there. Guards: Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Klay Thompson James Harden and Kyrie Irving starred during the 2014 FIBA World Cup, and could again in Tokyo.
We know Carmelo Anthony, now in possession of three gold medals he wouldn’t trade for anything, will not be on Pop’s roster. (Which, now that I type it out, sounds like a late-’60s “Thunderbirds” knockoff.) We know three-time NBA Coach of the Year and San Antonio Spurs legend Gregg Popovich will be stalking the sidelines. Given the gulf between the victory in Rio and the opening of play in Japan, there’s precious little we (think we) know about what will unfold for Team USA 2020. As the United States’ opponents set about rebuilding, revamping and reloading their national sides with an eye toward the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, though, it’s worth wondering: what might the U.S.’s own roster look like in four years’ time? After Team USA’s dominating 96-66 drubbing of Serbia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to win a third straight gold medal in men’s basketball, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo called upon the rest of the world to “get their act together and compete” if they want to break the stranglehold the Americans have had on the top of the men’s hoops podium over the past eight years.
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