James Harden Joins Star-filled US Dream Team Despite Stephen Curry Absence
US national coach Gregg Popovich is getting to know the names of the NBA stars he can count on as the Stars and Stripes attempt to retain the Olympic gold medal they have won since Beijing 2008.
A day after Kevin Durant announced his availability to join the legendary Spurs coach, it is now his team-mate James Harden who has signed up for a Dream Team that is starting to scare its rivals.
‘The Beard’ would return to the US national team after a seven-year absence, having missed the Rio 2016 Olympics and the 2019 World Cup in China. The shooting guard played his last game in the national team jersey in the 2014 World Cup final in Spain, where the United States won gold against Serbia.
Harden’s name is not the only one that has been added in the last few hours to a team that is the big favourite for gold at the Games to be played in Tokyo from 23 July.
Miami Heat starting centre Bam Adebayo, who has averaged 18.7 points and nine rebounds this season, has also expressed his intention to join the US Olympic squad.
A team that already has plenty to think about gold as the names of Harden and Adebayo join Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Draymond Green, Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum.
If that weren’t enough, they could still be joined by four other NBA superstars like Zion Williamson.
The difficulty of the NBA season, the tight schedule in 2021 and respect for the pandemic have meant that not all the big names in the league want to be on the Olympic team.
This is the case of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who prefer to use the summer to rest, and who have been joined in recent hours by Warriors star Stephen Curry and Utah Jazz player Donovan Mitchell, who will take the opportunity to recover from his right ankle injury.
