By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, France – Leading the United States to gold medals, LeBron James was named MVP of the 2024 Olympic Games.
Following the gold medal game with Team USA overpowering host France on Saturday, FIBA announced the winner of the Most Valuable Player award and the members of the All-Star Five. Joining LeBron, Dennis Schroder, Stephen Curry, Victor Wembanyama, and Nikola Jokic were placed on remaining slots.
Per the press release: “LeBron James capped an impressive run to the Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024 title by taking home the Most Valuable Player award after leading USA to their fifth straight gold medal.
James collected 14 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals in USA’s 98-87 win over hosts France in the Gold Medal Game. The veteran averaged 17.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game in winning his third gold medal.
The 39-year-old James was captivating the whole tournament. Perhaps his biggest highlight was registering his second triple-double in his Olympics career – and just the fourth of all-time – with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in USA’s thrilling come-from-behind victory over Serbia in the Semi-Finals.
James was joined on the All-Star Five by USA teammate Stephen Curry, Victor Wembanyama of France, Nikola Jokic of Serbia and Germany’s Dennis Schroder.
Curry came to life in the Semi-Finals with 9 three-pointers for 36 points and followed that with 8 three-pointers and 24 points in the Gold Medal Game. Playing in his first Olympics, Curry finished with 17.8 points on 47.8 percent three-point shooting, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Despite playing in his first Olympics at just 20 years old, Wembanyama led the French team in scoring with 19.0 points, rebounds at 11.6, assists at 4.0, steals with 2.4 and blocks with 2.2 per game. However, his 26 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in the Gold Medal Game were not enough to beat USA.
Jokic highlighted his amazing run in France with a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists with 0 turnovers in Serbia’s 93-83 win over Germany in the Bronze Medal Game. For the tournament, the three-time NBA MVP averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block per game in helping Serbia take home their second Olympic medal.
Schroder averaged 17.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game for the world champions Germany, who lost to Serbia in the Bronze Medal Game to finish fourth in their first appearance in the Semi-Finals.”
FIBA also announced that Victor Wembanyama won the Rising Star Award of the tournament, Serbian Aleksa Avramovic was named best defender, French Vincent Collet was the coach of the tournament and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia), Franz Wagner, (Germany), Guerschon Yabusele, (France) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) are part of the second All-tournament team.
Photo Credit: FIBA