Team USA’s elimination in the semifinals of the 2025 AmeriCup may have come as a surprise to those who weren’t paying close attention to the tournament. After winning five consecutive Gold medals in the Olympics, American fans may be used to dominating international competitions.
FIBA fans know though that Americans don’t typically win these tournaments when they don’t bring their best. Team USA hadn’t won the AmeriCup since 2017. They did win the 2024 Olympics, but an All-Star laden roster finished in a disappointing fourth place in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
This group was nowhere near as talented as that Olympic team featuring the best of the best, or the 2023 World Cup team led by Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, and others.
If the Olympics featured Team USA’s A team, the FIBA World Cup was their B team. The AmeriCup roster was down toward the scrabble letters that are worth double-digit points.
Team USA did assemble some fringe NBA talent. Langston Galloway has logged eight years in the league as a role player but was last on a roster during the 2021-22 season. Javonte Smart had 18 games of NBA experience, logging one minute last year with the Sixers. Jerian Grant was a former first round pick in the 2015 draft who played five years in the league. There were a handful of other players with a cup of coffee in the league, most of whom even die-hard NBA fans would be hard-pressed to identify.
That might sound like a better group on paper than Brazil, who was led by Yago Santos and Bruno Caboclo. But the Brazilians were a convincingly better team in their 92-77 win over the Americans on Saturday night. Santos was unstoppable, scoring 25 points to go along with 12 assists and getting into the paint at will. Caboclo pounded his way inside to 20 points and nine rebounds.
— FIBA AmeriCup (@AmeriCup) August 30, 2025
The truth is that the rest of the world has caught up to the Americans. An Olympic team featuring LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and others needed a miraculous shooting performance from Curry in order to claw back from a 17-point deficit and stave off elimination in their semifinal match against Serbia. This AmeriCup roster would have settled for his brother Seth, but even he wasn’t available.
Instead of rallying in the fourth quarter, Team USA crumbled, getting outscored 34-9 in the final period. They still clung onto a lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game, but ended up losing by 15. Brazil closed on a dominant 27- 2 run over the last seven minutes.
This was not a one-off unlucky performance. The Americans barely made it out of the group stage, losing to Uruguay for the first time since 2001. They needed overtime to beat a Bahamas team that didn’t even qualify for the knockout stage. Ironically, it was a comeback win against this same Brazil team that helped secure Team USA’s spot in the quarterfinals.
America can still attract fringe NBA talent to these international tournaments. The coaching staff, led by former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, has NBA and international experience. Galloway has been a veteran of these tournaments. Six other players had previous experience playing for Team USA.
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That is simply no longer good enough to expect to win. The Canadians were led by current NBA player Kyshawn George. Pelicans fan favorite Jose Alvarado represented Puerto Rico. The Americans had G-league players, out of work veterans, and European role players. Team USA needs to convince young NBA players that these tournaments are worth their time.
If the best European players like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic can represent their countries this summer in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament, then the Americans should be able to get real NBA players to commit as well. Until that happens, America will continue to fall flat in these summer tournaments.
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