After getting knocked out of gold contention by Germany, Team USA went up against Canada in the FIBA World Cup for a bronze medal. But the match didn’t go as planned, as Canada came out and lit up Team USA from the three-point line. Mikal Bridges turned the game on its head in the final seconds to send the match into overtime. But Team USA crumbled as they failed to score the ball. The match ended with a score of 127-118. 

Following the match, people were outraged and shared their displeasure on social media. While this was happening, the Minnesota Timberwolves legend, Kevin Garnett, took to Twitter to share his thoughts which resonated closely with Noah Lyles’s comments from a few days ago.

Kevin Garnett is stunned seeing the result

A while back, track star Noah Lyles said during an interview that he never understood why American sports champions call themselves the ‘world champions’. Those comments received extreme retaliation from NBA players, as people were not happy and said that Noah didn’t know what he was talking about.

But since that episode, Team USA went on to lose against Lithuania, Germany, and now Canada. People are outraged to see the USA fail to even get a bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup.

Following Team USA’s failure to even win a bronze, Kevin Garnett posted this on Twitter, following Team USA’s third loss in the FIBA World Cup: MVP… international player, NBA champs internationally led… Team USA not medalling.. What’s to it.”

KG is pointing out the obvious: the MVP of the NBA is a foreign player. The player who led his team to the NBA championship this year is an international player. The last five MVPs of the league were international players. The last time a USA-born player won the MVP was in the 2017–2018 season.

The barrage of scoring from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks left the USA with no answer to come back to the match. Brooks scored a game-high 39 points and made 7/8 from the three-point line. His partner in crime, SGH, dropped 31 points and led Canada to the bronze.

What next for Team USA after the World Cup debacle?

The world has caught up to Team USA. But people still believe that the USA is the best team if they send out their best players. But it’s not as easy as it seems. A 38-year-old Lebron James is highly unlikely to play at FIBA again. The biggest stars in the NBA who get paid the most money in the league wouldn’t want to risk an injury playing somewhere other than the NBA. 

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The first step, as most people pointed out, is to not have a guard-oriented playstyle on the world stage. Without players like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green on the team, Steve Kerr can’t hope to replicate the playstyle.

The NBA is also a much less aggressive league, whereas players in the FIBA World Cup have played in leagues where they don’t call fouls for simply touching someone. So with this in mind, they have to bring out lineups with players that are able to play center and not give the whole responsibility to a rookie, and pray your guards outbound the opposing centers.

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