Team USA has won a gold medal in men’s basketball in every Olympic Tournament since 1992 outside of one, the disastrous 2004 bronze-medal showing in Athens. USA Basketball has now won five straight gold medals in and will look to make it six in a row at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Of course, some all-time greats have suited up and played for Team USA at the Olympics, including the Top 2 in just about everyone’s GOAT rankings – Michael Jordan and LeBron James – and various other all-timers like Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and the borderline unquestioned Team USA GOAT, Kevin Durant, as well as so many other icons of the sport.
Today, we’re going to take a look at the best Team USA player in each Olympics since 1992 using our own Global Rating metric to determine the top American at each summer tournament. There are some surprises in here so be ready.
Spoiler alert: Durant and James dominate this list. Oh, and a role player was the best American at the 2020 Olympics, which was one of the weaker Team USA Olympic squads since NBA players started being allowed to participate for the U.S.