The USA Basketball men’s national team will be seeking a sixth consecutive gold medal at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, and the man leading that quest will be Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Spoelstra will be named the new coach of Team USA, according to Shams Charania, in an expected move as he served as the lead assistant on Steve Kerr’s staff during the 2024 Olympics. Spoelstra’s track record as the coach of the Heat speaks for itself, and he has the respect of the top NBA stars that would be playing for him in Los Angeles in 2028.
USA Basketball has put an emphasis on continuity and culture ever since their stunning defeat in the 2004 Olympics, tasking Mike Krzyzewski with building a foundation that has been built upon by Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr to win five consecutive Olympic gold medals. Now, Spoelstra will be tasked with continuing that run of success in what is both a coveted position and one that comes with the highest of expectations.
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Anything but a gold medal is a failure for Team USA, and Spoelstra’s biggest challenge will be leading the Americans into a new era without the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. The 2028 USA Basketball roster will almost assuredly feature some major turnover from the 2024 squad that was headlined by that star trio. Those three will all be over 40 by the time the 2028 Olympics roll around, and Spoelstra will need to find new leadership on the USA Basketball roster that can keep the standard where it has been.
Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton and Bam Adebayo all figure to be holdovers for 2028, but everyone else is a bit of a question mark. Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid will have the inside track to frontcourt spots, but they both carry the ever-present question of whether they’ll be healthy enough to participate in an Olympic summer. Jrue Holiday is unlikely to make a third Olympic team at age 38, while Derrick White could be retained as a glue guy but will have plenty of competition for a spot.
Despite stronger competition and more roster uncertainty at the top than USA Basketball has seen in decades, Spoelstra will not be given a reprieve on expectations. That said, if he can lead a new-look Team USA to a sixth straight gold on home soil in 2028, it will be one of the crowning achievements of his career.
