Reports claimed that the Team USA’s men’s basketball squad which included some of the best NBA players of the modern generation like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, etc carried the same hype as the iconic 1992 Dream Team and the 2008 Redeem Team. However, longtime ESPN reporter Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo was not so willing to accept the hype, diminishing the efforts of LeBron and Steph Curry in light of the legends who came before them.

Russo’s remarks were recently pondered upon by former Golden State Warriors player Gilbert Arenas and the rest of his crew. In a segment of his ‘Gil’s Arena’ show published yesterday, it was highlighted how the ESPN reporter claimed “The most significant gold medal in basketball we ever won, without a doubt, is 1976.” At the same time, he downplayed the prowess of the 2024 squad by stating that all they could do was “beat Evan Fournier”, who only averaged 7.2 points during his recent NBA season with the Detroit Pistons.

Rashad McCants surprisingly agreed with Russo’s take, stating that people don’t want to listen to the criticism just because Team USA returned with a gold medal. For Gilbert Arenas, however, the ESPN reporter was nothing but a hater, specifically for players from his own country.

“I can’t respect what he’s saying. He said he was rooting for France to win. He’s an American reporter, who reports on American basketball players, rooting for them to lose. That right there, just, I can’t respect what you’re saying then, because it comes with a jaded mind” said the 42-year-old former player. He later added to his criticism by stating “Picking (on) this team, that means anything this team do, you don’t give a f**k, so why do we care what you’re saying?”

As highlighted by Arenas, Chris Russo did admit his support for the rival team during the ‘First Take’ segment by saying “I was rooting for France, for crying out loud! Oh, I’ve had enough of the Olympic basketball.” This remark in itself was enough for ‘First Take’ co-host Stephen A. Smith to lay out his criticism onto him. While he jokingly threatened to have Russo be taken out by security, Smith later added on by stating “There is no excuse for you to be a citizen of the United States of America and be rooting against Team USA in Olympic competition. Where’s your patriotism?”

Arenas continued making attempts, during the segment, to downplay Chris Russo’s claim about the 1976 Team USA being the superior one. He highlighted that the decades-old national squad won the gold medal by defeating Yugoslavia, which did not have any NBA players on it then. In contrast, the 2024 Team France roster consisted of not one, but four NBA players! Furthermore, Evan Fournier was not even the lead scorer, since Victor Wembanyama and Guerschon Yabusele secured the highest average scores on the team.

The road for Team USA to secure the Gold Medal was not an easy one. Despite setting a perfect 6-0 record, the NBA star-filled roster came very close to losing the Semi-Finals and getting eliminated without a medal for the first time. However, Stephen Curry’s efforts prevented the same, as the player dropped the 2024 Olympics high score of 36 points by going 12-19 with his field goals, and 9-14 with his three-pointers.

He repeated the same display of prowess by dropping 24 points against France in the Finals. Despite this, Chris Russo was not so willing to give his flowers to the player. After all, this isn’t the first time that he has been snubbed by the reporter.

Chris Russo snubs Stephen Curry from his ‘Top 10’ list and faces criticism for calling him just a “nice shooter”

Back in February 2024, Chris Russo went viral for claiming that Stephen Curry doesn’t belong in any sort of conversation about being the best player ever. He defended his claim by stating “How do I make him top five ever when I got Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), Wilt (Chamberlain), (Bill) Russell, and LeBron (James) and (Michael) Jordan?”

While those players would occupy the top five, the sportscaster would want legends like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O’Neal to occupy the other spots. If that wasn’t enough, Russo had a take about Curry’s most exceptional skill that did not bode well with his co-hosts.

“Listen, he’s a nice shooter. Nobody is arguing with that” said the 64-year-old. Lo and behold, his co-host Molly Qerim was quick to criticise him by stating “A nice shooter? That is disrespectful and that is messed up!”

Russo’s earlier remarks just had him having a critical opinion about the Golden State Warriors star. Now, his remarks about Team USA have reportedly had people like Gilbert Arenas and Stephen A. Smith questioning his patriotism! Whether he will choose to add to his statements or not will be seen in due course.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.