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who would win if the 1992 dream team competed against 2008’s olympic roster?

before you answer, let’s look at the facts talk about what i think i know. i’m pretty sure the dream team came to be after a rule change by FIBA, the dudes who essentially run international basketball allowed the national teams competing in the olympics to recruit professional ballers. the US was probably sick of racking up bronze medals, so coach chuck daly decided to stack the team. who was on it?

those guys. i’m sure you know them all, but:

charles “sir charles” barkley, larry bird, clyde “the glide” drexler, patrick ewing, earvin “magic” johnson (he had just made his HIV announcement. and was still frying bammas on the court), michael “air” jordan, christian laettner (he was still studying at duke university at the time!), karl “the mail man” malone, chris mullin, scottie pippen, david robinson, and john stockton.

the OG dream team. no shaq’s or reggie’s here, although they definitely wouldn’t have hurt. i’m almost 100% sure they were all NBA all-stars, and the majority of them have championship rings on one (or more) fingers. i need my homie from SLAM online to verify those facts, though. these guys won the gold medal, going 8-0 in competition. their average margin of victory was 44 points, and they never used one timeout throughout the entire olympics.

it’s 16 years later, and generation X has taken over the universe. basketball has become a widely played sport, secondary to only soccer, and we now have young gunners across the globe learning how to dribble as soon as they learn how to walk. maybe that’s why the US teams were getting manhandled in the past few world games. these guys, at least in the US, have multi-million dollar contracts that make michael jordan’s money from back in the day look like chump change. they also have the medical advances to play through and recover quickly from injuries that would have sidelined somebody with MVP potential for weeks.

the squadron: kobe bryant, dwight howard, lebron james, chris paul, carmelo anthony, carlos boozer, jason kidd, dwayne wade, chris bosh, tayshaun prince, michael redd, and deron williams.

not the absolute best from the NBA (like where is trillbert arenas!?), but definitely not too shabby. the roster has it all: convicted rapists, drunk drivers, and wife beaters. don’t get it twisted though. they can definitely ball.

the US team of 2008 hasn’t lost yet, and they’re rocking people left and right. but really…with all that’s known about these two squads, i am not sure who will win if they went at it. let me know your thoughts, and why. and shout out to the dudes at slam online, especially my dude ryne. got me hyped on the NBA again!