If someone says the USAB men’s team for the 2024 Paris Olympics is Dream Team 2.0, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination. The hype around the holy trinity of the team, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, is reaching a fever pitch and even the players are feeling it. At least, that is the case for Jayson Tatum.

The NBA champion is going into the Olympics to keep his path to glory intact. One might assume the NBA champ is the top dog on any side. But the same cannot be said for the current USAB men’s team. The euphoric feeling of playing by the side of the ones you’ve idolized is something else, and Jayson Tatum recently broke that feeling down into words.

Tatum made a guest appearance on the latest episode of 7PM in Brooklyn podcast co-hosted by Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero. After talking about his latest achievement in the NBA Finals, the focus shifted toward his current situation in the national training camp. Kid Mero asked the 26-year-old about his experience with the likes of LeBron, KD, and Curry so far and Tatum’s words indicated that he was over the moon to be there. “Now this is crazy because, I’ve been in the league for 7 years so I’ve played against all these guys and you know on that level and had to go against KD in playoffs twice, Bron, and played against Steph in the finals, so I had that level of appreciation for them, even before I got to the league,” Tatum explained.

“These was the guys I was watching and now that we on the same team, it’s like damn! Like we did photos the other day, and those three went to the side and took a picture together. And it’s like, I had to take a step back. Those were like 3 of the best players ever to play this game. And we all teammates now going to try to win a gold medal and I don’t know if it was the fan or the kid in me but man that was like this is dope,” Tatum further added. But he was far from being overwhelmed, as he is now just a few days ago when he made a bold claim about his current teammates.

Jayson Tatum believes Celtics can beat the current USAB team

Just like his Celtics teammates, Jayson Tatum was on a high after bringing the 18th banner to Boston. The feeling of accomplishment after being in “so close yet so far” moments in recent years, this NBA Championship was a moment of fulfillment for the 5-time All-Star. He expressed just that when Malika Andrews put him in a rough spot by asking who’s he taking in a game between the Cs and the current USAB side. Showing his confidence in his teammates, Tatum chose the former on a recent episode of NBA Today. “When you win a championship it gives you a little room to say what you want and say how you feel. I’m riding with the guys that I just played 10 months of basketball with… I’m taking us against whoever,” Tatum said.

His confident claim might seem to be a shocking one, but the fact the Celtics broke multiple league records on route to their title adds somewhat credibility to it. But that’s a conversation for another day as we have a bigger fantasy team right before our eyes. The USAB tipped off their string of 5 exhibition matches on Wednesday against Canada with an 86-72 win. Despite the early concerns from Steve Kerr and his staff, the performance can only bolster their belief that the first consecutive Gold Medal is coming to the USA.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what brand maker, Leonard Armato, had to say about the deadly duo, Shaq and Kobe, check out this video