The 2028 Olympic Games will take place in Los Angeles, where the US men’s team will try to win its 6th straight gold medal, and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons is projected to be on the roster.
CBS Sports recently put together their projections for the 2028 squad, which includes a fair number of holdovers, but also some new faces like Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero.
It would be a great opportunity for Cade to practice and compete against the best players in the world, and by then, the landscape of the NBA could be radically changed.
Cade Cunningham will be pushing for MVPs by 2028
There has been a lot of talk about who the “next face of the NBA” will be after players like LeBron James and Stephen Curry finally retire, if they ever do.
It’s mostly a media angle, as these types of things can’t be forced, but happen organically through a player’s success and popularity. There have really only been a few true “faces” of the NBA and it’s pretty much the Mount Rushmore of NBA greats.
But by 2028, Cunningham will be one of the few players projected to be on the roster who will be under 30 years old, he’ll be just 26, hitting his prime and who knows, he may have an MVP under his belt by then if things go perfectly.
After a 7th-place finish in the MVP voting last season, it’s not unthinkable that Cunningham will at least have banked a few top five finishes by then.
He’d then have a chance to tack on a gold medal as a key member of Team USA, as he’ll be in the next generation of players expected to take over the team along with Paolo Banchero and Jalen Williams.
Olympic participation has a long history of helping players reach another level as they walk away with confidence after sharpening their skills against the best in the world in a high-pressure environment.
It’s also possible that Cade won’t be the only Pistons’ player getting a look for the Olympic roster, as centers Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid will be 35 and 34, respectively, and with their injury histories, you can’t pencil them into anything that far into the future. It could open the door for Jalen Duren to get a look depending on how the next few years go in his development.
Players like Ausar and Amen Thompson are also valuable on Olympic teams, as they can make an impact without needing shots, which are always in short supply with so many alpha scorers on one roster.
The Pistons will likely send at least Cunningham, who will have a chance to add to his individual accolades and case as “face of the league,” whatever that means.