Brooklyn Nets: Should Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges get Priority for Olympic Team?

When the U.S. needed help in losses to Lithuania, Germany and Canada, the Nets duo was there.

Team USA sent a loaded squad to the 2023 FIBA World Cup to try and redeem their short comings in at the 2019 World Cup with a Gold Medal finish.

A team with a combined five All-Star appearances, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year at the time and, of course, the Brooklyn Nets duo of Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges accompanied Steve Kerr's roster. In a shocking turn of events, the United States were sent crashing out of contention for gold at the hands of Germany and left empty handed at the hands of Canada in the Bronze Medal game.

In January, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards who played for Team USA at the World Cup, revisited the matter. Edwards admitted, "the FIBA World Cup this summer changed his perspective about everything."

Anthony Edwards credits playing for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup re: his game’s evolution this season. pic.twitter.com/qGjG3wgKBQ

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 19, 2024

When ESPN's JJ Redick spoke to Johnson on what went down at the World Cup, the Nets forward pointed at systems being the reason why the Americans lost. "Those teams run offenses very efficiently, you can tell they've been playing together for a long time -- Everybody understandings going into FIBA we have six weeks to become a team. We weren't blind to that."

Now, the proposed questions are, how long could Team USA keep this selection system up for the World Cup and should Johnson and Mikal Bridges get priority on the US Olympic team?

We're in a completely different era of basketball, where super teams contending for championships off the fly is no longer the easy way out to winning. Take the NBA for example: the Phoenix Suns didn't even win a game in the playoffs after acquiring three-time All-Star Bradley Beal in the offseason. As for the FIBA World Cup, it's been exactly a decade since the US won gold with a brand new team compared to their previous World Cup roster, with the exception of Rudy Gay and Stephen Curry returning.

In terms of rewarding players that commit to playing for Team USA at the World Cup, it should be time to give them priority for the Olympic team as well.

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