In Photos: Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony light up Team USA camp by linking arms with LeBron James, Steph Curry & more
Throughout the history of USA Basketball, several iconic NBA players have solidified their place in the prominent legacy of Team USA. Two such players are Heat legend Dwyane Wade and former Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
They may no longer be part of this year's Olympic run, but the two still showed their support by attending training camp.
Upon their arrival at the team's gym, the two former NBA players caught up with Lakers' LeBron James, Warriors' Steph Curry, etc. When it comes to the friendship between James, Wade and Anthony, the trio goes way back as they were part of the same 2003 draft class.
Their interaction was captured and shared on Instagram by the NBA's social media team.
Back when he played for the 2008 Olympic team, Dwyane Wade was a crucial piece in Team USA's road to bringing home the gold medal against Spain. Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony solidified himself as one of the best players in USA Basketball history with his three Olympic gold medals.
As the torches have been passed from their generation to this current generation of athletes, it now falls to the young stars to build upon the legacy that two basketball legends left behind.
Dwyane Wade heads to Paris with Team USA for this year's Olympics as basketball analyst
The anticipation for the start 2024 Paris Olympics continues to mount each day as it inches closer. To add to the excitement, Dwyane Wade will join NBC Sports as a commentator for Team USA Men's Basketball games, as he revealed in a statement.
"Im thrilled to join NBC Sports as a commentator for Team USA Men's Basketball games," Wade said. "The Olympics are the world's greatest sporting competition with athletes competing at the highest level on the world's largest stage. I have tremendous pride when I look back at my time competing as an Olympic athlete. ..."
Wade's USA Basketball resume speaks for itself as he will be providing quality commentary in this year's roster's mission to handle their business against opposing teams.
Bringing home the gold has always been a daunting task for any ball club competing for it and this year is no different for USA as the team looks to bounce back from last year's disappointing finish in the FIBA World Cup.
Carmelo Anthony talked about the pressure on this year's Team USA to win the gold medal
There's a growing narrative that international players and teams are catching up to the elite American athletes and squads. After finishing fourth place in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, the program knew that they had to make the necessary adjustments to counter this year's efforts from opposing teams.
In his appearance on the "Point Forward" podcast from May 1, 2024, Carmelo Anthony argued that there's a certain level of pressure on this year's Team USA to deliver the goods when it's finally time. (Start at 51:18)
"International players damn taking over the league," Anthony said. "Now we've got to put our Avengers together to take on these other countries. All eyes. It's all eyes. There's pressure too. Because these other countries, these guys are playing against them every single day."
The debates will continue but once it's time to finally play basketball, all eyes will be on USA Basketball to meet the worldly expectations placed on them.