Team USA executives respond to Embiid comments about team’s age

PARIS – Joel Embiid recently suggested that Team USA’s stars are old and that their advanced age could lead outsiders to overestimate their collective strength.

Two of the players Embiid mentioned agree with him to some extent.

“Obviously we’re older and we all have miles on our bodies,” said Kevin Durant, 35, who is Team USA’s all-time leading scorer but has not played this summer because of a calf injury. “We’re figuring out ways to be effective, just like Jo, who got hurt.”

Embiid, 30, has struggled with injuries throughout his career and opted to play for the U.S. over France, where he also became a citizen, at the Olympics.

Durant acknowledged that he was aware of Embiid’s comments. Steph Curry, who sat next to Durant at an Olympic news conference in Paris on Thursday, suggested ignorance and asked for context.

“What I mean is there are too many podcasts,” said Curry, who is 36.

Embiid’s comments, told to the New York Times Magazine in a 32-minute episode of “The Interview” before the start of Team USA training camp but published on July 20, sparked an outcry outside the U.S. national team.

Team USA, winner of four straight gold medals and heavily favored for a fifth, features 11 current NBA All-Stars who are considered future Hall of Famers. But Embiid’s point was that the team had been given too much credit before any games had even been played, and one reason was that time had taken its toll on the aging stars.

“You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there’s just as much talent on other teams,” Embiid said. “And the talent that’s on the U.S. team, you also have to understand that most of those guys are older. The LeBron of today is not the LeBron of a few years ago. So it’s a big difference. Anyone would tell you, and you can see it for yourself, the athletic LeBron, the dominant LeBron he was a few years ago, he’s not the same as he is now. I think people get fooled by the names on paper. But those names have been built up over the course of their careers, and now they’re older. They’re not what they used to be.”

Embiid’s comments have caused a stir (Paul Harding/Getty Images)

Embiid used James, 39, as an example, but the U.S. team has seven players who are 30 or older. Derrick White is 30, Anthony Davis is 31 and Jrue Holiday is 34. Kawhi Leonard, 33, was originally on the team but was sent home by U.S. officials after it was deemed that his chronic knee swelling would not allow him to play at a high enough level for the Olympics. He was replaced by White.

The irony of Embiid singling out James, and the timing of the publication, is that James has been Team USA’s best player during the exhibition season. He leads the team in scoring and assists, twice bailing the Americans out from late deficits with 25 points against South Sudan (on July 20, the date Embiid’s interview was published) and 11 of his 20 points late in the fourth quarter Monday against Germany.

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James is averaging 14.6 points and 3.8 assists for Team USA. Neither James nor Embiid have publicly addressed the comments, and Durant said they were not a topic of discussion within the team.

“The thing about greatness is you adapt and you continue to find ways to be effective,” Durant added Thursday when asked about James. “That’s what LeBron has done. He doesn’t run and jump the same way he did when he was 25, 26, but he still jumps pretty high and runs pretty fast.”

Curry said the team still relies on younger members.

“It’s a team of five men (on the field at the same time), so you have to coordinate everything,” he said.

Currently, Devin Booker starts for the U.S. alongside James, Curry, Embiid and Holiday. Booker is 27, but is already an Olympic gold medalist. Holiday won gold with Booker at the Tokyo Games. The team’s second-leading scorer, Anthony Edwards, is 22 and plays on the second unit with Davis, Bam Adebayo (27), Jayson Tatum (26) and White. Tatum and Adebayo also won gold in 2021.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” USA coach Steve Kerr said later Thursday when asked about Embiid’s comments. “I think the fact is LeBron is 39, Steph is 36. It doesn’t change the fact that LeBron is still a great player. He took over the last two games.

“We really like the balance of age and experience on this team, and none of that matters except that we come together as a team and take our collective competitiveness to the next level,” Kerr continued. “And we’re absolutely capable of doing that.”

Team USA’s first match of the Olympics is against Serbia at 5:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. ET) on Sunday in Lille, France. Friday is a day off for the U.S. team as it prepares for the daring opening ceremony in Paris, which will feature athletes sailing on boats down the Seine River.

James becomes the first American male player to carry the flag.

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(Top photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)