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Brian Windhorst
exactly one hour Before the start of the gold medal game in Paris last summer, when Olympic rules allowed players to take the court for warmups, an unlikely pair were the first to take the field.
erik spoelstra and Lebron JamesAll business, working through his pregame routine, Team USA assistant coaches brought the players up to speed. It was a common scene all summer long, Spoelstra and James working out together in person, their past history of joy, pain and drama Miami Heat Pushed out of consciousness.
“Moments like this are a testament to what USA Basketball is,” Spoelstra told ESPN. “No matter what kind of friction or misunderstanding you have in the NBA, it all gets cast aside because your goal is the same.”
Spoelstra is known for his obsessive nature, but especially when it comes to the “purity” of competition. Whether he’s talking about a bench player playing his role, talking about a superstar or talking about his own responsibilities, this has been one of the guiding principles of Spoelstra’s 17 years as the Heat’s head coach.
And that’s why Spoelstra is destined to lead Team USA, which was formalized on Tuesday when he was announced as the national team’s next head coach. Spoelstra will guide the Americans during the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“Everyone in this business wants to be a part of Team USA, the legacy and history of the program is supreme in sports and I’m humbled and grateful,” Spoelstra said. “It’s very exciting to compete on the world stage.”
Spoelstra has worked quickly Moved up through the USA Basketball ranks while coaching the Select Team in 2021 during a COVID-limited training camp in Las Vegas, helping prepare the national team for the Tokyo Games that summer.
He was then an assistant to former coach Steve Kerr for the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, impressing USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill so much with his investment in the role that he immediately became the leading candidate to succeed Kerr.
“Watching him over the last two summers and getting to know him up close rather than from a distance, where I’ve admired him for a long time, I realized for the first time what a great coach he is,” Kerr said last week. “I think assistant coaching [on Team USA] It’s almost a prerequisite to coaching the USA…he’s an ideal choice. He’s going to be great.”
Hill, who takes over at USA Basketball in 2021, did not conduct an extensive search, sources said. After watching Spoelstra’s performance, Hill and other members of the USA Basketball leadership team, including CEO Jim Tooley and President General (retired) Martin Dempsey, were convinced.
“I’ve known Erik Spoelstra for two decades and have gotten to know him better throughout my time with USA Basketball,” Hill said. “Spo is not only an outstanding coach, but also a great colleague, friend and father, all of which make him the perfect choice to continue the coaching legacy of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team through 2028.”
Spoelstra faces an important task – both selecting and preparing the team to defend its home turf and the gold medal. The superstars who powered the Paris 2024 team – Olympic MVP LeBron James, gold-medal-game hero Stephen Curry and four-time gold medalist Kevin Durant – Obviously there is no guarantee of participation in LA28.
In addition to changing the roster, getting players to sign up for the World Cup in ’27 could be a challenge.
The World Cup is the primary way for teams to qualify for the Olympics and is an arduous three-year process. It consists of six qualification game windows over a 15-month period – most of them played during the NBA season when top players are not available and many of the games taking place in far-flung locations such as Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil – that must be navigated to qualify for the World Cup. Then only the top two finishers from North and South America at the World Cup qualify for the Olympics. The United States has made it to the Olympics in the last two cycles, but did not get a medal in the last two World Cups.
But because the US is the host country, Americans are given an automatic berth in 2028. With the heat of summer in Doha (the World Cup begins on August 27, 2027), securing participation from top stars – with Olympic berths already guaranteed – could be a tough sell.
Other countries, such as defending World Cup and European champions Germany, require players to make multi-year commitments to ensure a spot on the Olympic roster. Team USA created this standard in 2005 after losing the 2004 Olympic gold, but has moved away from it over the past 15 years.
Hill and Spoelstra don’t currently plan to have such a requirement, but the coach made it clear there will be a standard.
“This is a time when players will understand the importance of raising your hand and saying you want the opportunity to be a part of the USA program,” Spoelstra said. “It’s more than just qualifying [for the Olympics]It’s about the shared life experience of what it means to be on Team USA.”
Managing high-profile stars, their egos and their needs is one of the demanding parts of the job. For example, in 2024, Kerr faced scrutiny when he chose to take the Celtics star jayson tatum Out of rotation for two games.
Team USA won both of them, but they were heartbroken when Kerr brought the Warriors to Boston last season and will probably continue to be so in the future.
Mike Krzyzewski, Gregg Popovich and Kerr, the last three people to hold the position who have led Team USA to five consecutive Olympic gold medals, all discussed the nature of the decisions required for the job and the stress it creates.
“There’s only one outcome you’re allowed to have – that is, did you win?” Krzyzewski last year reflected on his time as USA head coach from 2006-2018. “To win Olympic gold, you have to win three Game 7s in a row against NBA talents playing the biggest games of their lives, and you’re expected to win them all.”
And never more than now.
The US is expected to win in 2028, but it no longer enjoys as large a margin for error against international competition as it once did. The team has had to make double-digit comebacks in the medal rounds of the last two Olympics, in what Krzyzewski called Game 7-style situations, to keep the gold streak alive.
Spoelstra, who won two NBA championships as a head coach and led teams to the Finals six times, is well aware of the obstacles that come with promotion.
“When you’re an assistant coach, it’s easier for players to see you as a friend, so the relationships change [when you’re head coach],” Spoelstra said. “But that’s what you understand when you’re part of Team USA, you’re the ‘man in the arena,’ and it really makes you feel alive.
