While Team USA deals with injury concerns and a lack of big men, the team will still be very difficult for any other team to beat in the field in the upcoming 2012 London Olympics. That’s because the star power involved, even without Anthony Davis, is overwhelmingly in favor of the United States. That’s due in part to at least two, and perhaps three, players from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are “virtual locks" according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman and that’s no surprise when looking at the field. Both players have been discussed as Team USA players for some time and it’s only James Harden who looks like a question mark. Although even that would likely not be an issue if Harden played for anyone else.
Mayberry writes, “Westbrook and Durant are virtual locks to make the final team. They should become the ninth different set of teammates to compete in the summer Olympics since the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) opened the competition to NBA players in 1989. New York’s tandem of Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, as well as some mix of the Clippers’ trio, figures to increase that tally.”
Harden is a longshot at this point, but stranger things have happened than having three teammates on the USA roster.
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