United States men's national basketball team

The United States men's national basketball team, often called Team USA, represents the country in international play. It is the most decorated men’s squad in the sport’s history, having earned a medal in every one of the twenty Olympic tournaments it has entered, with seventeen of those being gold. In the professional era, Olympic golds came in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. Three gold-medal teams have been enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: the 1960 squad (with four players and two coaches inducted), the 1992 "Dream Team" (eleven players and three coaches), and the 2008 "Redeem Team" (six players and three coaches). The team currently holds the top spot in the FIBA World Rankings.

Originally made up of amateurs, the U.S. dominated the early decades of international basketball, winning seven straight Olympic gold medals. But by the late 1980s, American amateurs struggled against seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In 1989, FIBA changed its rules, allowing USA Basketball to use NBA players. The first such team, the "Dream Team," won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, dominating every game. This sparked another period of dominance in the 1990s.

As competition grew tougher, the U.S. failed to medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, finishing sixth. The 2004 Olympic team, weakened by many player withdrawals, lost three games on its way to a bronze medal—more losses in a single year than all previous U.S. Olympic teams combined had suffered. Determined to fix this, USA Basketball launched a long-term project to build better, more cohesive teams. At the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, the U.S. won its first seven games before losing to Greece in the semifinals, taking bronze. Two years later, at the 2008 Olympics, the team won gold in dominant fashion. That success continued at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, where, despite having no players from the 2008 Olympic team, the U.S. went undefeated and beat host Turkey for the gold.

The Americans kept up their streak through the 2010s, going undefeated and winning gold at the 2012 Olympics and the 2014 FIBA World Cup. At the 2016 Olympics, coached by Mike Krzyzewski for a record third time, the team won its 15th gold medal, making him the most decorated coach in USA Basketball history. After Krzyzewski stepped down in 2016, Team US