At 39, LeBron James continues to impress the basketball world. His clutch performances against South Sudan and Germany during the pre-Olympic exhibition games saved the USA from widespread humiliation. He has undoubtedly been the best player on the stacked Team USA squad thus far. His clutch quotient in the last few games was even higher than Stephen Curry, who was the 2023-24 season’s Clutch Player of the Year.
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LBJ’s string of terrific performances has given more ammo to his superfan Nick Wright, who even declared the four-time NBA Champion the best player on the All-Star USA squad.
On First Things First, Wright alluded to the poll conducted among the Team USA players to decide the best player on the team to substantiate his claim. LBJ got more votes than everyone else in the said pole, which showed that even his teammates think he is the best among them.
Wright then referred to Curry calling James the ‘closer’ of the team. The fact that one of the most clutch players of all time is referring to James as the closeout man says it all!
Therefore, Wright concluded that James remains the best American player out there despite the emergence of superstars like Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards and the presence of legends like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant on the scene. After LBJ’s game-winning performance against South Sudan, the 39-year-old said,
“They took a players on the team vote, who is the best player on the team… A few guys got one vote, one guy got two votes, LeBron got five… Anthony Edwards being asked after this game [against South Sudan], saying LeBron James [is the best], Steph Curry calling him the closer… I think he is the best player on the team.“
"I think LeBron James is the best player on Team USA. … Even at a shade under 40, 21 years in the league, I don't think there's a better American basketball player."
— Agree with @getnickwright? pic.twitter.com/hovYyS8Jca
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) July 22, 2024
After praising James for his on-court exploits, Wright also turned his attention to another significant achievement. He pointed out that James has been selected as the first Men’s Basketball player ever to be the flagbearer for the Olympics, which also points to his influence on the USA sports scene.
LeBron James gets the ultimate honor in the Olympics
LBJ has received an overwhelming amount of support from even non-basketball athletes to be the flag-bearer of the USA contingent in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He became the first male basketball player to fetch the privilege. Fittingly, his decade-old-long rival Stephen Curry was the first to inform him about the huge honor bestowed upon him.
Apart from that, LeBron may still be the reason why USA ends up with the Gold medal during the Olympics. After all, James was one of the first players to pledge his participation in the Paris Olympics after Team USA’s 2023 World Cup debacle.
