5 former Wildcats will have chance to represent Team USA at 2024 Paris Olympics

On Tuesday, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team announced a 41-man player pool for the 2024 roster. Among the bunch were five former Kentucky Wildcats. The final roster will eventually get trimmed down to just 12 players, with that group set to represent Team USA at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.

Some of the game’s biggest names cracked the initial player pool, including the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Joel Embiid. Below are the five Wildcats who made the cut.

• Bam Adebayo (MIA)
• Devin Booker (PHX)
• Anthony Davis (LAL)
• De’Aaron Fox (SAC)
• Tyler Herro (MIA)

The Paris Player Pool 🫡

🇺🇸 #USABMNT pic.twitter.com/OWIml1e8Rt

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) January 23, 2024

Adebayo, Booker, and Davis all have previous experience with Team USA. Adebayo and Booker were part of the gold medal-winning team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games while Davis has won two golds with Team USA in 2012 (Olympics) and 2014 (World Cup). This will be the first Team USA Men’s National Team opportunity for Fox and Herro. Fox was a member of the 2015–16 USA Men’s Basketball Men’s Junior Team but did not play against international competition.

Kentucky’s five representatives are more than any other school. Duke is second with four while Villanova is right behind with three.

Team USA will look to bounce back at this summer’s Olympics following another poor showing at the World Cup last year. The Americans came in fourth place after losing in the bronze medal game to Canada — which was led by another former Wildcat, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who dropped 31 points in the win.

This time around, head coach Steve Kerr should have more star power on the USA roster. Hopefully, it features a handful of Kentucky players.