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Could the Suns help turn around Team USA?

© Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY Sports

Team USA fell 113-111 to Germany in today’s FIBA World Cup semifinals game. This means they will be playing in the bronze medal game tomorrow with no chance of winning the gold.

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This will be the team’s second straight time at the World Cup not finishing with a gold medal after they placed 7th in 2019. The team will take on Canada tomorrow at 1:30 a.m MST.

This year’s Team USA roster was arguably even weaker than the 2019 team.

Take a look at how this year’s roster looked compared to 2021 when Suns’ stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant both played and helped Team USA win an Olympic Gold Medal.

2021 Olympic Roster via nba.com

Bradley Beal was originally featured on the Olympic roster as well before contracting COVID-19 ahead of the team’s departure to Tokyo. This would have been his first career international tournament with Team USA.

Booker and Durant would have dominated had they played for this year’s team. Beal even would have arguably been the best player had he suited up for the World Cup.

CBS released their “ideal roster” for Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and it featured both Durant and Booker.

Durant and Booker could very likely play once again in the Olympics next year after their Olympic history. They might be able to convince Beal to finally make an appearance as well.

Durant and Booker’s Team USA History

Here are the stats for Durant and Booker’s Team USA history with KD having one of the most decorated international careers ever:

Kevin Durant

  • Teams:
    • 2010 Turkey FIBA World Championship
    • 2012 London Olympic Games
    • 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
    • 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympic Games
  • Total Stats: 
    • 20.6 PPG | 5.6 RPG | 2.8 APG | 1.3 SPG | 0.7 BPG on 53.8/48.8/87.7 splits in 27.7 MPG (31 games)
  • Achievements: 
    • USA Men’s Basketball all-time Olympic leading point scorer (435 points)
    • Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2012, 2016, 2021)
    • One-time FIBA Gold Medalist (was the team’s first FIBA championship since 1994)
    • FIBA World Championship MVP (2010)
    • Three-time USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (2010, 2016, 2021)

Devin Booker

  • Teams:
    • 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympic Games
  • Total Stats:
    • 9.3 PPG | 3.2 RPG | 1.8 APG | 1.5 SPG | 0.3 BPG on 42.2/33.3/92.9 splits in 20.6 MPG (6 games)
  • Achievements:
    • One-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2021)

Durant and Booker helped Team USA rebound from the 2019 FIBA finish in the 2021 Olympics.

Could the Suns’ duo plus potentially Beal turn around Team USA once again and help them win an Olympic gold in 2024?

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Brendan Mau is a Phoenix Suns insider and college sports reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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