Could the Team USA roster win an NBA championship? - ESPN

The Team USA roster that began the 2023 FIBA World Cup by blowing out New Zealand, 99-72, on Saturday is heavy on promising young talent but light on established stars.

Three USA players (Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton and Jaren Jackson Jr.) were first-time All-Stars last year, with Jackson winning Defensive Player of the Year and Paolo Banchero Rookie of the Year, but none made an All-NBA team.

In fact, none of the players on the U.S. roster have ever been chosen All-NBA. That makes it interesting to think about how this USA team might perform against NBA competition. With seven players who averaged at least 32 minutes per game for their teams in 2022-23, Team USA would have a massive depth advantage on the rest of the league, but not the kind of singular star that typically leads teams to a title.

With the help of a preliminary version of my 2023-24 NBA team projections, let's consider how the USA roster would perform over a full season together.

Based on the starting five and reserve units that coach Steve Kerr has used during exhibition play and in Saturday's World Cup opener, here's a guess at what the USA's rotation would look like over an 82-game season of 48-minute NBA games.

Using that and players' actual projections for the upcoming season based on my system, which incorporates both box-score stats from my SCHOENE projection system and adjusted plus-minus data from NBAshotcharts.com, the U.S. projects to win 52.2 games on average.

If that doesn't sound very impressive — four teams won more than 52 games last season — remember that projections are conservative by nature. Based on current rosters and minutes projections, only the Boston Celtics (54.6) are forecast for more wins on average than the USA roster.