The Dream Team

“Who is the most iconic basketball team of all time?” When you ask any basketball fan that question, you’re bound to get a few different answers but the team you’ll likely hear most about is the 1992 United States Men’s Olympic basketball team. Coached by legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson and dubbed the “Dream Team,” this squad is widely considered one of the most stacked sports teams ever assembled.

Despite being created in 1891 by James Naismith, basketball was not implemented into the Summer Olympics until 1904, and an Olympic basketball tournament was not implemented until the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. The United States’ victory in the inaugural tournament began the country’s dominant streak of seven straight tournament wins, a streak which ultimately ended in 1972 when they were controversially defeated by the Soviet Union in the final.

The United States would go on to redeem themselves by winning the next two tournaments in which they appeared: the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Inglewood, California. The tournament in 1988 would go on to become the first tournament in which the United States failed to reach the final, as they lost to the Soviet Union in the semifinal.

Prior to 1989, there was a rule in place which stated that countries were not permitted to select professional players to their international roster, limiting each country to fill their rosters with amateur players. That restriction was lifted in April 1989 by FIBA Secretary General, Borislav Stanković, laying the groundwork for the Dream Team to formulate.

The following twelve individuals are the players that were selected to the Dream Team:

• #9 Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
• #8 Scottie Pippen (Chicago Bulls)
• #12 John Stockton (Utah Jazz)
• #11 Karl Malone (Utah Jazz)
• #15 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)
• #7 Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
• #6 Patrick Ewing (New York Knicks)
• #13 Chris Mullin (Golden State Warriors)
• #5 David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)
• #14 Charles Barkley (Philadelphia 76ers)
• #10 Clyde Drexler (Portland Trail Blazers)
• #4 Christian Laettner (Duke University)

Ten of the twelve players on the roster were selected on September 21, 1991. Clyde Drexler was later selected on May 12, 1992 over NBA legend Isiah Thomas. There is speculation that Thomas was only excluded from being on the Dream Team because of Michael Jordan’s personal hatred for the Detroit Pistons’ star point guard, but it was revealed years later that the majority of players on the squad had no interest in playing alongside Thomas.

The final player to be named to the squad was Christian Laettner, a college phenom out of Duke University. The United States set aside a roster spot for one non-professional player because international squads were previously comprised of amateur, predominantly collegiate, players until professional players were given the green light to be selected. Laettner was selected to the Dream Team on May 12, 1992, beating out Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning for the final roster spot, two players that would go on to become NBA stars.

To say the squad was stacked is an understatement. To put the roster’s strength into perspective, six of the twelve players on the roster won the NBA Most Valuable Player award at least once in their career. Expectedly, the team demolished their opponents throughout the tournament, winning each game by an average margin of 44 points and even winning a game by 68 points.

The United States Men’s Olympic basketball team finished the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain with an 8-0 record en route to securing the gold medal, redeeming themselves after a disappointing loss in 1988. Almost thirty years later, this team is still considered the most talented basketball team ever created and is a staple of the history of the Olympics.