When Kevin Love and particularly Kevin Durant said they would come back to play for Team USA at the 2014 World Cup (FIBA’s World Championship, but they want to steal the soccer name now) it was a real coup. Durant could blow off the trip to Spain next summer for the World Cup and still play in the Olympics a couple years later, he is after all the second best player in the world (and by 2016 he may be higher on the list). But he wants to play.
LeBron James was never expected to play in 2014; USA Basketball president Jerry Colangelo isn’t even going to request it.
However, he may choose not to play in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil either, reports Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports.James, 28, will not play for USA Basketball during the 2014 world championships in Spain and is doubtful to participate in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, a source close to the Miami Heat forward told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. USA Basketball executive director Jerry Colangelo also confirmed to Yahoo! Sports he doesn’t expect James to play next summer – and doesn’t plan to ask him….
“LeBron is going to be three years older during the next Olympics. He will have two older boys. He has a lot to endure with his family,” the source told Y! Sports. “He played in three Olympics. Everyone that knows LeBron knows it’s always based on a decision at that moment. But if the moment was today, the answer would be no.”
Three years is a long, long time away. To say exactly what LeBron (or Durant or Chris Paul or Kyrie Irving or anyone else) will be thinking in three years is impossible.
That said, it sure does sound like he may be thinking about his career and his legs during the regular season more than another gold medal. LeBron has two golds, no player has three. If he wants to sit, it’s hard to blame him much.
But there is another factor that will play in all this — Nike. And the LeBron brand. LeBron now sells more shoes than Kobe Bryant or any other active player (Jordan is still king, by a mile) and the Olympics is a huge international platform that reaches into China and other corners of the globe. There could be pressure on him to play.
But we are two years away from this question really being asked in any serious way. So we’ll see.
