Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker part of emerging Team USA core - The Athletic

As USA Basketball officials work to piece together the final roster of 12 NBA stars headed to the Paris Olympics this summer, a picture is beginning to emerge of who will be on the team.

In USA Basketball’s recent discussions with stakeholders, Boston Celtics star guard, Olympic gold medalist and NBA champion Jrue Holiday, and Phoenix Suns All-NBA guard and Olympic gold winner Devin Booker are mentioned along with Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum as the expected core of the team barring injury, multiple NBA sources and sources close to the American team told The Athletic.

At least some of these have already begun initial planning and public commitments related to their Olympic participation, sources said. Multiple USA officials said Wednesday the final Olympic roster is not set.

In addition to the seven bona fide heavyweights listed above, budding superstars Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton, two members of the USA’s 2023 World Cup team, are under strong consideration for the Paris Games, those same sources said. Edwards and Haliburton were two of the top players for the Americans last summer, on a team that finished a disappointing fourth at the World Cup in Manila.

If all nine of these players make the USA roster, there would be three players left to pick. Only Embiid is a “traditional” big man (in the modern sense of the position — he shots 37 percent from 3-point range as a 7-footer), so the Americans would need to add more size. The Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo and Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis are considered strong candidates for the roster as well, and Davis said during All-Star weekend that he would play for the Americans if asked.

James, who is 6-foot-8 and still runs the floor like a freight train on offense but weighs more than 260 pounds, could also play the 4 in a lineup with Durant and/or Tatum on the wings.

Team USA, the four-time-defending Olympic gold medalist in men’s basketball, has a target date of sometime in the early rounds of the NBA playoffs to announce its Paris roster, which means late April or May. There is still a major caveat for any player considered a lock — that player’s health at the time of the announcement and then when training camp begins in early July. It’s a major reason why, last month, the American team put out a list of 41 players from which the final team will be picked. If someone gets hurt or bows out, Team USA will have been able to stay engaged with potential replacements.

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USA officials — led by managing director Grant Hill and Sean Ford, who oversees day-to-day operations for the men’s national team, and coach Steve Kerr — are still counting on Embiid, who underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear earlier this month but could return to the 76ers’ lineup before the end of the regular season. Embiid’s plans to represent Team USA in the Olympics remain intact, a source said.

Decorated American Olympic veterans Durant and James have been emphatic publicly in their commitment to the Paris Olympics, and USAB simply could not keep them off the team if they want to play. Curry, who has never played in an Olympics, wants this year and team (coached by Kerr, his longtime coach on the Warriors) to be his debut.

Team USA has been pursuing Holiday for much of the NBA season, and Holiday has delivered his commitment to USAB officials in recent weeks, sources said. Team officials have valued Holiday’s two-way ability, point-of-attack defense and dynamic playmaking. Holiday was considered Team USA’s second-most important player behind Durant at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

The draw to determine who the Americans will play in the opening round of the Olympic tournament in Lille, France, is March 19.

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(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)

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