LeBron James picks his dream teammates for 3-on-3 basketball
LeBron James is not a big fan of 3-on-3 basketball and likely won’t participate in the 2020 Tokyo Games, which will introduce the format in Olympic play. But just because the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar isn’t a fan of three-man teams, doesn’t mean he hasn’t spent time pondering the perfect squad.
When asked by the Associated Press to name his dream teammates for the upcoming Summer Games, James didn’t hesitate, picking Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson as his running mates. Pairing the four-time MVP with the Dream Team superstars would create one of the most formidable trios in basketball history.
Though James would still rather play the more traditional 5-on-5 format, he’s a big fan of the change.
"It's great for basketball," he said. "For us to be able to add another category to the Olympics, another basketball category, I think it's pretty great. I haven't seen the full layout of how they plan on executing it ... are they going to use NBA guys, are they going to use college guys? I'm not quite sure.
"I'm not very good in a 3-on-3 thing. I'm more of a 5-on-5 guy. I stay out of the 1-on-1 matchups during our practice, the 2-on-2 and the 3-on-3s. So probably not. I probably won't be a part of the 3-on-3 matchup."
The International Olympic Committee announced the addition of the event Friday but provided few details other than eight men’s teams and eight women’s teams will be competing.
"They don't want just the basketball powers to compete in 3-on-3," USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley told reporters. "FIBA will get together and figure out how teams will qualify. They will definitely want to reward countries that have been doing a lot of 3-on-3 activities."
