With the finalists announced for the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, we take a look at the greatest players that have been eligible to participate since the 1992 Dream Team, but have not been selected.
15) LaMarcus Aldridge
For the third straight Olympics cycle, Aldridge is on the short list of finalists, but it's doubtful that the now 34-year-old power forward will be representing his country in Tokyo. His style has always been well-suited to the international game, with a rangy jumper and innate ability to guard multiple positions on defense but injuries were a factor in 2012 and 2016. Aldridge was one of the last cuts from the 2012 London team due to a slow recovery from hip surgery and in 2016 he withdrew from consideration after suffering a dislocated finger during the playoffs. He didn't exactly endear himself to U.S.A. Basketball in between, opting to sit out the 2014 FIBA World Cup despite being healthy and, at the time, arguably the league's best power forward. While still pretty effective, Aldridge is surely not one of the 12 best American players right now, and his inclusion on the 2020 team would mean that numerous stars declined invitations.
14) Joe Dumars
With John Stockton injured and likely to miss the first few games of the Olympics, coach Chuck Daly had to consider adding another guard to the Dream Team roster. While Isiah Thomas was the obvious answer, Daly knew that bringing in his controversial Pistons star would alienate other Dream Team members, most notably Michael Jordan. Instead of another point guard like Kevin Johnson or Tim Hardaway, Daly actually gave strong consideration to his other back court star in Detroit, Dumars. It was a rock and a hard a place for the coach, and he ultimately decided against upsetting Thomas further by adding Dumars, and stuck with the injured Stockton. Dumars did get to represent the U.S. at the FIBA World Championships two years later, winning gold with the squad known as "Dream Team II," but did not make the 1996 Olympics roster. Previously as a junior at McNeese State, he was also one of the ignominious cuts by Bobby Knight from the 1984 team, leaving training camp to head home on a bus with fellow future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Karl Malone.
13) Ben Wallace
12) Chauncey Billups
11) Blake Griffin
When Griffin was not even a part of the 44 finalists named for the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, it was the muted end of a disappointing era. As has been a theme in his overall career, his Olympic dreams had previously been dashed by injuries. Coming off back-to-back All-Star appearances in his first two NBA seasons, Griffin was named to the 2012 U.S. team in London. His shooting touch and ability to run the floor and finish in transition were obvious assets in the international style of play, but Griffin suffered a torn meniscus during the team's training camp and was replaced on the roster by Pelicans draftee Anthony Davis (Griffin did manage to return healthy for the '12-'13 Clippers season). He didn't even make it quite that far four years later, withdrawing from consideration before the team roster was finalized due to a thigh injury suffered during the 2016 playoffs. Though Griffin showed flashes of his old brilliance during the '18-'19 season with the Pistons, a knee surgery this past January likely ended his '19-'20 campaign and superseded any chance at making the 2020 Olympics roster.
10) Shawn Kemp
He was named to the All-Tournament team at the 1994 FIBA World Championship as the youngest member of the U.S. Dream Team II, and an NBA MVP candidate drawing praise from even Michael Jordan after the 1996 Finals. So how did Kemp miss out on being named to the 1996 U.S. Olympics roster? Many pointed to his antics during the 1994 tournament, most notably an infamous crotch grab to celebrate a thunderous dunk. Fair or not, the All-Star Sonics forward had become a totem of the supposedly overly petulant and immature generation of young stars. Thus, Dream Team holdovers Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley returned for the 1996 Olympics, joined in the forward rotation by Grant Hill, while Kemp watched on television as the U.S. cruised to gold. By the time of the 2000 Olympics, Kemp had ballooned in weight and was a shell of his former self, struggling to stay relevant while playing in Cleveland.
9) Kevin Johnson
One of nine members of Dream Team II that participated in the 1994 FIBA World Championship but never the Olympics (five of which are on this list), Johnson was arguably the biggest snub on the original Dream Team roster. Isiah Thomas' non-inclusion grabbed the biggest headlines, but Johnson was, by most metrics, the second best point guard in the NBA in 1992 after John Stockton. He was named 2nd-Team All-NBA in '88-'89, '89-'90, and '90-'91, and 3rd-Team in '91-'92 (in the same seasons, Stockton was also 2nd-Team three times and 3rd-Team once, while Thomas was not named to any of those teams), and finished in the top five in the NBA in assists all four of those seasons. After Stockton was injured during a qualifying tournament, Johnson was on the short list of considerations to replace him on the final Olympics roster, but Chuck Daly decided to stick with the recovering Jazz star instead. Though he was still one of the league's premier guards in 1996, Johnson was also struggling with a sports hernia and related complications that kept him off the Olympics roster and hampered the remainder of his pro career.
8) Dennis Rodman
Considering the hemming and hawing over U.S. Basketball selecting Charles Barkley for the 1992 Olympics team, one can only imagine the reaction to Rodman donning a red, white, and blue jersey. Not that they needed him in 1992 or 1996, when Dream Team I and Dream Team III rolled to effortless gold medals, but Rodman's defense and rebounding would have been an undeniable asset. He had just finished the '91-'92 season leading the NBA in rebounding when his Pistons coach Chuck Daly was in charge of the U.S. squad, but if Isiah Thomas was too controversial for the team, what chance did Rodman have? In 2013, it was rumored that "The Worm" was going to train with and possibly even coach the North Korean national team. It's unclear how much Rodman actually contributed but the North Korean squad came up well short, failing to even qualify for the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2016 Olympics.
7) Kawhi Leonard
Citing the impending birth of his first child, Leonard was one of numerous stars who declined an invitation for the 2016 U.S. Olympics team. He was, unsurprisingly, a headliner of the 2020 short list recently released, and has stated his intention to follow through and play this time. This would necessitate a reunion with his former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, rekindling a relationship that was supposedly strained when Leonard was injured and clashing with Spurs front office management during the '17-'18 season. If he does play in 2020, he'll certainly be one of the U.S.A.'s biggest stars and most crucial players.
6) Paul Pierce
They were eventually overshadowed by the disastrous 2004 Olympics team that settled for bronze, but the 2002 FIBA World Championship team is notable as the first U.S. squad with NBA players to lose. Even worse, they lost in the quarterfinals round to Argentina, meaning they failed to medal altogether (and, to add insult to injury, the tournament was on U.S. soil in Indianapolis). Though Pierce was the leading scorer for that U.S. team, the then 24-year-old also played selfishly and clashed with teammates and coach George Karl (though, to be fair, who hasn't clashed with George Karl?). When the time came to choose the 2004 U.S. team, Pierce put himself out there as more mature and wanting to play for redemption, but he was supposedly barely even considered for the roster. In 2008 he was coming off an NBA Finals MVP trophy and had won the respect of almost everyone in league circles, but was dealing with a knee injury and some still hurt feelings over his 2004 snub, so Pierce took his name out of the running.
5) Chris Webber
Following his freshman year at Michigan, Webber was part of the 1992 "Select Team" that infamously upset the Dream Team in a pre-Olympics scrimmage. But unlike fellow select team-ers Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, and Grant Hill, Webber never made it on a senior Olympics team, even though he had an empirically superior NBA career compared to those other three players. While his lack of inclusion on the 1996 team makes sense, as Webber was recovering from shoulder surgery at the time, there's no cogent argument as to why he didn't represent the U.S. in Sydney in 2000. A roster featuring Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antonio McDyess, Vin Baker, and a past-his-prime Alonzo Mourning certainly could have made room for Webber, who was apparently flagged by U.S.A. basketball as a "behavioral risk." Still an All-Star level talent in 2004, Webber was supposedly overlooked by the selection committee that summer due to the potential distraction of a perjury trial for his involvement in a Michigan booster scandal.
4) Tracy McGrady
When Kobe Bryant's rape trial left him unavailable for the 2004 Olympics, the U.S.A. basketball brass was still confident it had a centerpiece superstar for the roster in McGrady. Still only 25 years old, McGrady already had two scoring titles by the summer of 2004, and had been named 1st-Team All-NBA twice and played in four All-Star Games. Not only was the U.S. basketball community counting on McGrady, so was his shoe sponsor, Adidas, which was making plans to release a special Olympics edition line for T-Mac to don. Then, right as the roster was starting to take shape, McGrady joined fellow stars like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, and Jason Kidd in taking his name out of the running. He cited his wedding plans for the summer, but later admitted that he also factored in security concerns (terrorist activity in Greece was an anxiety for many that summer) and disillusionment over his experience representing the U.S. at the 2003 FIBA Americas qualifying tournament, where he sparred with a Puerto Rican player during a game and felt that he was unfairly maligned for the incident. When Jerry Colangelo soon after asked for a three year commitment from players that wanted to participate in the next Olympics, McGrady declined. He was likely a long shot for the 2008 roster anyway, as he underwent both shoulder and knee surgery immediately following the '07-'08 season.
3) Dominique Wilkins
While Isiah Thomas was the most controversial omission from the Dream Team roster, Kevin Johnson the biggest snub, and Joe Dumars came closest to inclusion, Wilkins was arguably the most talented player in 1992 that wasn't selected. The issue for the then nine-time All-Star wasn't talent or respect around the NBA, but a ruptured Achilles' suffered in January of the '91-'92 season. The Dream Team already had 10 announced members by then, and it's never been officially confirmed or denied if Wilkins had a realistic shot to claim the final NBA roster spot over Clyde Drexler. The team already had five forwards committed at the time compared to just three guards, so it's arguable that adding another guard in Drexler was an inevitability even if Wilkins was healthy. Not quite the same player anymore after his recovery from surgery, Wilkins was nonetheless added to the Dream Team II roster that won gold at the FIBA World Championship in 1994. By 1996 he was no longer in the NBA, playing professionally in Greece, and was not seriously contemplated for the Olympics team, even though the games took place in Atlanta, a city where he is eternally beloved. As for his NCAA days, Wilkins was coming off a stellar but mostly overlooked freshman year at Georgia when the 1980 Olympics team was assembled without him, and it was a moot point anyway, as the U.S. wound up boycotting the games in Moscow.
2) Isiah Thomas
As alluded above, Thomas is the most famous Olympics team snub in the pro era, and according to our metrics is the second greatest player not to participate, but his case for inclusion on the 1992 Dream Team isn't as clear cut as you may think. There's no doubt Thomas was the second best point guard of the '80s behind only Magic Johnson. He was an All-Star in his first 12 NBA seasons, named 1st-Team All-NBA three times, 2nd-Team All-NBA twice, finished in the top three in assists per game four times, and won championships in 1989 and 1990, with a Finals MVP in the latter one. But owing in part to aging and in part to his willingness to sacrifice his own stats for the greater good of the Pistons, Thomas had swiftly lost his status amongst the league's greatest players by 1992. His last appearance on the All-NBA team, the top 10 in MVP voting, and the top five in assists came in '86-'87, long before the Dream Team roster was being compiled. Not only was John Stockton a better point guard than Thomas on paper by the '91-'92 season, arguably so were Kevin Johnson, Mark Price, and Tim Hardaway. Then, you have to factor in his reputation as a malcontent, because the U.S.A. Basketball committee certainly did, and the testimonials of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen clearly contributed to Thomas' exclusion. Long before the Dream Team, Thomas had already experienced heartbreak in Olympics participation chances, when his inclusion on the 1980 U.S. team was superseded by a boycott due to the games taking place in the Soviet Union. One final dagger for Thomas took place in 1994, when he was added to the roster from Dream Team II at the FIBA World Championships in Toronto but had to sit out the tournament due to an Achilles' injury that also ended his NBA career.
1) Stephen Curry
If all goes well with his broken hand and he can otherwise stay healthy, Curry will likely restore Isiah Thomas to the top of this list in 2020. He has repeatedly stated his intentions to play in Tokyo and his ball handling, passing, and otherworldly shooting skills make him a priority addition for the U.S. It would be culmination of a 10-year relationship with the national team for Curry, who was part of the 2010 FIBA World Championship team that won gold in Turkey. Despite playing well in that tournament, Curry was not one of the 20 finalists for the 2012 Olympics team. He won gold again in the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Spain and would have been a centerpiece of the 2016 Olympics team but declined the invitation to rehab a sore knee over the summer. Curry joined Michael Jordan in 1996, Shaquille O'Neal in 2000, and Kevin Garnett in 2004 as reigning MVPs to not participate in the ensuing Olympics (reigning MVPs who did: Jordan in 1992, Kobe Bryant in 2008, and LeBron James in 2012).