Team USA men’s basketball is a -16.5 point favorite to beat Team France in Saturday’s gold medal encounter at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Read More: USA Basketball-France in Olympic Gold Medal Game: How To Watch, Predictions
But which American superstar will take home team MVP honors, should this unusually-loaded U.S. squad go on to win it all?
Just four players from the Tokyo Olympics remain on this year’s roster, but only one of them seems likely to have a shot at MVP honors.
Two longtime U.S. Olympic standouts seem likely to compete for the honor, but three fresh additions are jockeying for consideration, too.
The 20-time All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers combo forward is playing in his first Olympics since 2012. Along with two other players on this ranking, James has started every game for Steve Kerr in competition — though Kerr has toggled the other two starting lineup spots.
James is averaging team-mosts in points (14.2, on a .674/.273/. 714 slash line), assists (8.2), rebounds (7.0), and minutes (22.9). He logged a triple-double against Team Serbia, which has only happened four other times in men’s Olympic basketball history — but James is the only player to have achieved the feat twice.
Read More: USA Basketball Makes Incredible Comeback to Beat Serbia, Advance to Olympics Gold Medal Match
Durant is the reigning Team USA MVP, having netted the honor at the Tokyo games in 2021. During the Americans’ last gold medal game, the club was again paired with Team France (albeit without Wembanyama).
In that matchup, the 14-time All-Star cemented his case. The Texas product scored 21 points in the first half and closed out the match with 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor (3-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line) and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line, while also grabbing nine rebounds, dishing out three dimes and blocking one shot. He nailed what wound up being a game-winning pair of free throws with eight seconds left in regulation, helping the U.S. defeat France by a far-too-narrow margin, 87-82.
From that 2021-era U.S. group, only Boston Celtics All-Defensive guard Jrue Holiday, Miami Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo, and Phoenix Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker are on this year’s roster.
Durant’s output has been a bit more limited than it should be due to his occupying a bench role, though he is slated to start at last in Saturday’s gold medal game. Still, he’s averaging the third-most points on the team, a hyper-efficient 13.6 points on an immaculate .579/.611/.929 slash line. He’s also chipping in three rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 20.5 minutes per.
The Golden State Warriors star had 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the floor (9-of-14 from deep) in the Team Serbia game, only a point behind Carmelo Anthony’s all-time record of 37 points.
Curry is something of a defensive sieve, and thus has been a bit of a liability on that end of the floor, compelling his own NBA head coach, Steve Kerr, to play Boston Celtics All-Defensive guards Derrick White and Jrue Holiday to play heavy minutes. If he has another explosive game against France’s middling backcourt, he could earn MVP honors.
Curry is averaging 13.0 points on .468/.412/1.000 shooting splits, 3.6 rebounds, and two assists.
The upstart Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard has made quite an impression in his first Olympics.
Edwards has been coming off the Americans’ bench behind Booker. The Suns star is apparently being favored due to his seniority on the team, because Edwards has been roundly outplaying him on both ends of the court. In a scant 17.6 minutes a night, Edwards is averaging the second-most points on Team USA, 13.8 (while shooting .605/.455/.583), plus 3.2 boards, 1.4 dimes and 1.4 steals.
After a rocky and out-of-shape start to his first Olympics, the Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center looked incredible against Serbia on offense. He scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor (2-of-3 from long range) and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, while also grabbing four rebounds, dishing out two dimes, and blocking one shot.
Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA center Anthony Davis and Adebayo have been significantly better defensively, and arguably stronger post presences on offense, but Embiid is the only rostered center with an MVP award to his name, so Kerr has given him the starting nod here. He’s averaging 13 points on .583/.545/.571 shooting, just four rebounds (partially due to his taking so many jumpers, but also because he is just getting beat on the glass by rival players far too much), 1.3 assists, and 1.3 blocks.
