After winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, we turn our focus to the next Olympic Games in 2024, which are set to take place in Paris. By then, Team USA will have a new managing director in Grant Hill, as this was the last year with Jerry Colangelo at the helm, and a new head coach as Gregg Popovich’s tenure ended with a gold medal in Tokyo.
The roster itself could also look drastically different, depending on if aging guys like Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and others are still interested in competing on the international stage. However, there is one player who we’ve yet to see compete in the Olympics who could be making his debut in 2024: Stephen Curry. The three-time NBA champion opted out of competing for Team USA this summer, citing the quick turnaround from the NBA season.
But Curry has expressed interest in representing the U.S. at the 2024 Olympic games, something that Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Ker thinks would be the only box left to check on his Hall of Fame career.
“I don’t think I even need to advise Steph on any of that. Because he’s been through the World Cup experience at least once, I think twice, if I’m not mistaken. So he’s competed at the highest level internationally,” Kerr said via The Athletic. “The Olympics is probably the only thing left on his list of basketball accomplishments. He’s achieved everything else. I think that would be great if he was interested in ’24. I think that’d be a great thing for him to pursue if he wanted to do it.”
Curry sat out the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil after a lengthy, season that included an NBA Finals loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and once again decided to forgo the Olympics this summer due to the short time span between the end of the NBA season and the start of the Olympic Games. By the time the 2024 Games rolls around, Curry will be 36, but as long as he’s healthy age doesn’t really matter for a player of his caliber.
In regards to Kerr’s interest in becoming the next head coach of Team USA after serving as an assistant under Popovich in Tokyo, he would relish the opportunity if it should arise.
“Of course I’d be interested,” Kerr said. “I mean, who wouldn’t be? I’ll leave it at that. I have no idea how it will all transpire; there are a lot of great candidates out there. And if I were to be considered, that would be an honor.”
If there were ever a coach that had the credentials to follow in Popovich’s footsteps, it would be Kerr, who has three NBA championships on his coaching resume, as well as a Coach of the Year award from the 2015-16 season. But Kerr’s right, there are several great candidates to look at, and perhaps Team USA opts to bring in a college coach again after Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s successful stint in charge that includes three gold medals at the Olympics from 2008 to 2016.
Villanova coach Jay Wright was an assistant on the Olympic team this summer, and he’s universally respected in the basketball community just as Kerr is. If Team USA decides to go that route perhaps Wright would be the successor, but Kerr should also be in the mix when that decision is made. We’ll have to wait and see if Kerr becomes the next coach and if Curry decides to finally make his long-awaited Olympics debut.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
