From Kevin Durant to LeBron James to Anthony Edwards, the 2024 United States Olympic men’s basketball team is obviously stocked with star power and players that have been in the spotlight since they were high schoolers. The rest of the world has its share of big-time players as well, however, as 11 former five-stars will suit up for countries other than the USA.
Today, Rivals takes a look back on each of the 11 as a high school prospect and remembers how their recruitments unfolded.
More: How the July live period will impact the Rivals150 rankings
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Team: Canada
College: Duke
As a recruit: Possibly the most decorated high school prospect in this list, Barrett garnered multiple national player of the year honors as a senior at Montverde Academy to which he transferred from Ontario’s St. Marcellinus School during his freshman year.
Barrett was originally a member of the 2019 class but reclassified to 2018 prior to his commitment to Duke. He chose the Blue Devils over finalists Oregon and Kentucky. He finished the cycle as the top-ranked prospect in the Rivals150 and a McDonald’s All-American.
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Team: Canada
As a recruit: Birch began his high school career in Ontario before shipping out to Massachusetts and attending a pair of American high schools. He became a national name and McDonald’s All-American playing for Notre Dame Prep and racked up offers from high-major schools from coast to coast.
At the time of his commitment to Pitt, he had the reputation of a high-ceiling athlete with a raw offensive game. He selected the Panthers over programs such as Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Ohio State and Providence. Birch would play one season for then-head coach Jamie Dixon at Pitt before transferring to UNLV to finish his college career.
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Team: Greece
College: Florida
As a recruit: The American-born Calathes is of Greek descent and has been playing for the nation’s national team since 2008. He was the No. 14 prospect in the 2007 Rivals150 and built his reputation while playing for Florida’s Lake Howell High school. Calathes was selected as a McDonald’s All-American and committed to Florida during the Billy Donovan era. He chose the Gators over both Miami and Florida State.
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Team: Australia
College: None
As a recruit: The son of former North Carolina player Cecil Exum, Dante Exum never played college basketball but he certainly considered doing so. He visited places such as Indiana and UNC and was loosely linked to Georgetown, SMU and LSU before deciding to return to his native Australia and compete there before declaring for the 2014 NBA draft.
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Team: South Sudan
College: Kentucky
As a recruit: Gabrial was born in Khartoum, Sudan, and settled in the New England area upon his arrival in the States. He played for high schools in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
He was part of a loaded Kentucky class that also included De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo and Malik Monk. The five-star forward committed to Kentucky just days after his official visit to Lexington in a move that surprised everyone in the recruiting world due to the fact that Gabriel had three additional official visits still on his schedule at the time of his pledge. Duke was seen as the leader in Gabriel’s recruitment for a healthy chunk of the process, but the momentum started to shift to the Wildcats in the month leading up to his UK official visit.
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Team: Australia
College: Arizona
As a recruit: The No. 13 prospect in the 2018 Rivals150, Green moved to America from Sydney when he was 13 and became a star, playing for powerhouse high school program IMG Academy and eventually being selected for the 2019 McDonald’s All-American Boys Game.
He committed to Arizona over offers from programs such as North Carolina, Villanova, Kansas and UNLV. He was thought to be a Tar Heel lean for some time prior to his commitment. He played his AAU career with the West Coast Elite travel program.
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Team: Canada
College: Kentucky
As a recruit: A one-time Indiana commit that eventually backed off that pledge and landed at Kentucky, the Saskatchewan-born Lyles turned some heads when he changed his mind based on the fact that he attended high school in Indianapolis. He was also considering Louisville at the time of his commitment to Kentucky.
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Team: South Sudan
College: Duke
As a recruit: Maluach is yet to play a college game for Duke but made waves in the international basketball world earlier this month with a strong showing in South Sudan’s near-win over the United States in a pre-Olympics tune-up game.
A five-star in the class of 2024, Maluach never played American high school or AAU basketball so he has no numerical ranking despite being a five-star talent. The South Sudan-born 7-footer is a product of the NBA Global Academy and committed to Duke over UCLA, Kentucky and Kansas.
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Team: Canada
College: Kentucky
As a recruit: The Canadian-born Murray attended high school in Ontario, but his AAU team competed in American events, garnering exposure and an eventual five-star ranking. He committed to Kentucky while wearing a Canadian flag cape live on TSN, the Canadian version of ESPN, and chose the Wildcats over Oregon, Michigan and Michigan State.
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Team: Canada
College: Florida / Gonzaga
As a recruit: Nembhard is originally from Aurora, Ontario, and attended Florida-based powerhouse Montverde Academy for high school. He chose Florida based on his relationship with then-Gators head coach Mike White, who is now the head coach at Georgia.
He eventually transferred to Gonzaga, which was among his list of finalists at the time of his pledge to UF and developed into a second-round draft pick during his two seasons as a Bulldog.
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Team: Canada
College: Stanford
As a recruit: Powell was born in Toronto, but eventually moved to the United States to attend Florida-based athlete factory IMG Academy. He was ranked as the No. 25 prospect in the 2010 Rivals150 and was pursued mostly by prestigious academic institutions, ultimately choosing Stanford over Georgia Tech and Harvard.
His non-traditional offer list was the result of his focus on academic standards as well as his standing as a late bloomer. He didn’t arrive on the national radar until late in his prep career.
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