Team USA Olympic stock watch: Why we're monitoring these 11 NBA players — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Jalen Brunson climbed into Olympic contention after winning Finals MVP, having now claimed championships at every level — high school state title, two college national titles, and an NBA title — and he previously changed his wedding date to play for Team USA at the 2023 World Cup.
- Scottie Barnes averaged 24.1 points, 8.6 assists and 6.1 rebounds in Toronto's seven-game playoff run and was the only NBA player this season to record more than 100 blocks and 100 steals, per the article.
- Chet Holmgren's Olympic stock fell after a conference-finals collapse in which he averaged 10.7 points on 51% shooting against San Antonio — down from 18.6 points on 60% in the first two rounds — and attempted just two shots in Game 7.
- Jalen Duren posted the largest playoff scoring drop for an All-Star since 1969 (minimum 10 games), averaging 9.3 fewer points per game than in the regular season, per ESPN Research cited in the article.
- LeBron James is floated as a wild-card candidate despite saying on the 'Mind the Game' podcast in November he would watch the 2028 Games 'from Cabo'; his new two-year Philadelphia deal projects through June 2028, one month before the Olympics.
- Donovan Mitchell reached his first conference finals but now sits behind Brunson in the American guard pecking order — the two were born a week apart and will both be 31 at the 2028 Games.
- Bam Adebayo's Olympic profile rose by contrast as Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis were injured and fellow young American bigs Duren, Holmgren and Evan Mobley underperformed in the playoffs, while international centers Wembanyama, Towns, Hartenstein and Gobert excelled.
Why it matters: Team USA has won five consecutive Olympic gold medals but four of the last five were decided by single digits (two against Spain, two against France), and the Paris 2024 veterans — James, Curry, Durant — are aging out. With France and Wembanyama looming as the 2028 threat in LA, the roster math now hinges on whether emerging Americans like Brunson and Barnes can step into clutch late-game roles while the big-man pipeline shows troubling playoff cracks.
Ask SkimNews
