Does the next generation take over the Olympics or do the legends have one more run?

Picture this: It’s a warm July night in Los Angeles in the year 2028. The Intuit Dome in Inglewood is hosting the gold medal game for the men’s basketball final. The closing ceremony is scheduled for the following day. 

The sellout crowd is a mosaic of red, white and blue. The arena’s famous Wall section is raucous and rowdy, ready to intimidate Team USA’s opponent. Celebrities are sitting courtside in a who’s who of A-list glitz. 

Now, ask yourself, who is running out of the tunnel and taking the court for the United States of America?

Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant of Team United States pose for a photo during the Men’s basketball medal ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Getty Images

That’s the unenviable task that Team USA managing director Grant Hill will have to decide. We already know who will be the head coach; Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will take over for Steve Kerr. So, when the reigning Olympic champions reload for 2028, it will not only be the best basketball players in the United States, it will also be the players that can handle the pressure of winning gold on home turf. 

Here’s our best guess more than two years out on how the Olympic men’s basketball roster will shake out.

Tier 1: Guaranteed to make the team

These are the likely pillars of the team. Barring catastrophic injury or dramatic regression, book their spot now:

• Anthony Edwards
• Jayson Tatum
• Tyrese Haliburton
• Cooper Flagg
• Bam Adebayo

Edwards will be 26 years old and fully entering his prime. He was the up-and-comer in Paris in 2024, learning the ropes from the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Now, he’s primed to take over as the leader of a team that will be stacked, but facing tougher competition globally.

Haliburton, if healthy, should also be on the team. He was on the roster for the 2024 team, but didn’t play “When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A,” he famously tweeted after winning the gold medal. If his 2025 NBA Playoff run with the Indiana Pacers was any indication, Haliburton is a playmaker that Team USA will need in 2028. He’s currently recovering from an Achilles tear, but if he returns to his full potential, he will definitely be on the squad.

Tatum is also recovering from an Achilles tear and will most certainly be on the team. Flagg feels like the face of the next generation, and Adebayo is the Miami Heat mainstay that Spoelstra will make sure is on his team.

Tier 2: Most likely to make the team

The following players fit the Olympic puzzle perfectly:

• Chet Holmgren
• Jalen Williams
• Scottie Barnes
• Cade Cunningham
• Kon Knueppel
• Amen Thompson

Holmgren’s rim protection and spacing scream international dominance. Plus, someone will need to guard French superstar Victor Wembanyama, and what better player than the man whose gone toe-to-toe with the Spurs’ center the last several years with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Williams is the kind of playoff-tested wing that wins ugly games in medal rounds, while Barnes and Thompson could form a defensive perimeter that suffocates Canada, France, or anyone else bold enough to challenge. 

Cunningham might be the MVP of the NBA in two years and Knueppel, a Duke teammate of Flagg, is currently getting Rookie of the Year consideration and could be the three-point threat Team USA will need in 2028. 

Tier 3: Has a chance to make the team

The competition will be ruthless for these potential players:

• Devin Booker
• Jaylen Brown
• Jalen Duren
• Evan Mobley
• Tyrese Maxey
• Paolo Banchero
• Jaren Jackson Jr. 
• Jalen Brunson
• Austin Reaves
• Walker Kessler
• Brandon Ingram

Booker has Olympic equity, but Father Time audits everyone. Brown should be an obvious choice, but will he be holding on to a grudge after he was left off the roster in 2024?

Duren was an All-Star for the first time this year, and his rebounding could matter against Serbia and France. Mobley is elite, though slightly duplicative if Holmgren locks a role. Maxey offers burst scoring. Banchero’s size and skill remain tantalizing and he was on the FIBA 2023 roster, as was Jackson Jr, Brunson, Reaves, Kessler and Ingram.

The FIBA 2027 tournament roster likely won’t have all the players that make the Olympic team, but it did feature Edwards and Haliburton in 2023, so it certainly will offer us clues on who could be on the team in 2028. 

This tier could shift wildly by 2027.

Tier 4: Young stars on the trajectory

These names are not being discussed loudly enough — yet:

• AJ Dybantsa
• Darryn Peterson
• Cameron Boozer

These young players are expected to be taken within the top 5 picks of the 2026 NBA Draft, if not the top three. By 2028, one or two of these players could force their way into the conversation the way Flagg and Kneuppel have this year. 

Tier 5: Aging legends, long shots

Respect the résumé. But Father Time remains undefeated:

• Stephen Curry
• LeBron James
• Kevin Durant
• Kawhi Leonard
• Anthony Davis

Could one of them grab a farewell roster spot? Possibly. Durant has earned eternal consideration, and says he wants to play for the team even at 40 years old. James writing one final Olympic chapter in Los Angeles would feel cinematic if he’s still playing in the NBA, but he will be 43 years old and has already said he has no plans of playing on the 2028 team. As has Curry. Leonard and Davis have an outside chance if they’re still playing at a high level in two years time. 

But sentimentality doesn’t win gold. Depth, youth, and defensive versatility do.

If the game’s started tomorrow here’s our best guess on who would be on the final 12-man roster. 

The final 12 (if the Games started tomorrow)

• Tyrese Haliburton
• Anthony Edwards
• Kon Knueppel
• Cade Cunningham
• Jayson Tatum
• Cooper Flagg
• Jalen Williams
• Scottie Barnes
• Amen Thompson
• Chet Holmgren
• Bam Adebayo
• Jalen Duren

That roster brings nine perimeter players and three bigs — pace, length, shooting, switchability. It guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It bodies Nikola Jokić. It spaces the floor against France’s towers.

And most importantly, it can withstand the pressure of playing for gold in Los Angeles, where every miss will echo louder and every dunk will shake the building like thunder rolling off the Pacific.

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Two years is an eternity in basketball. Careers rise and fall. Injuries will happen. Shooters go cold and teenagers become stars.

But if the Olympics tipped tomorrow in LA, this is the group I’d bet on to keep the gold at home.