With roughly a month until the beginning of the 2023-24 NBA regular season, there is never a shortage of stories floating around the basketball universe. Wednesday was a perfect example of that.
UCLA basketball fans are no strangers to their program pairing up some of the best talent from all across the world year in and year out. So many of them have gone on to have prominent NBA careers such as Baron Davis, Jrue Holiday and Russell Westbrook just to name a few.
Zach LaVine and Jrue Holiday were both on the court during Team USA's late-game collapse against France in their Olympic opener July 25. It was the Americans' third loss of the month and just their first in Olympic play since 2004.
The Americans have a chance to defend their gold medal, thanks in large part to a massive third quarter run bookended by two Bruins. Team USA men's basketball defeated Australia 97-78 in the semifinals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Thursday.
Even with reinforcements, the Americans couldn't get the job done in Japan. Team USA men's basketball dropped its Olympic group stage opener to France 83-76 on Sunday, losing its third game this month and first in Olympic play since 2004.