Draymond Green thinks this Pistons player should have been in the Olympics

The Detroit Pistons have a rich history of former players who have taken home gold in the Olympics. 

None of them have been recent, as Detroit has been through a downturn and hasn’t had many worthy candidates to send. That could change in 2028, as Cade Cunningham has already been mentioned as a possibility for the team and Jalen Duren played on the Select team to help Team USA prepare for Paris, so he is also a possibility. 

But they could have taken home gold this year according to Draymond Green, who recently talked about the 3x3 tournament and rightfully asked why none of the NBA players were in it. 

Jalen Duren should have been on the 3x3 team according to Draymond Green 

If you are not familiar, the Olympics added 3x3 basketball during the Tokyo Olympics and it carried forward to Paris. 

I turned on the Final the other night and was shocked to find that the US was not only not in it, but they were the worst team in the tournament, going 2-5 overall. 

I didn’t recognize a single player on either team in the gold medal match, so wondered who the US must have sent to represent the country and found more names I didn’t know. 

Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis represented the US and were unceremoniously smoked. Are you kidding me here? This is the best team the US can come up with? 

I could go to practically any park in Detroit and find a run with a better team than this. It’s bad enough that Team USA now struggles to even make the gold medal game in 5x5 but are we really letting the Netherlands and Germany beat us in the game we invented and that people across the country play?

As a longtime 3x3 player myself, it irks me that the US didn't take this seriously.

Green rightfully asked why there weren’t NBA players on the team and I agree. He mentioned several young players, including Jalen Duren, and he’s right.  

As others have pointed out, there are very real obstacles to NBA players being in this event, namely that they have to participate in qualifiers, which would be nearly impossible. Some have even suggested that this was done purposefully to keep the US from winning.

But the point stands, as there is just no way this is the best 3x3 team the US could have put on the court beween college athletes, ex-NBA players or even a weekend run at Rucker Park.

It may not have the prestige of the real thing, but a gold is a gold and the US shouldn’t be letting anyone beat us in basketball, 3x3 or otherwise.