Do you have a desire to take to the hardwood during the Summer Olympics? Want to know how to get there? For those of us in the United States, the answer is simple to make the Olympics Basketball team for both the men and women's teams - make it to the NBA or WNBA.
Yes, it doesn't sound like an easy thing to do, well, because it isn't. Especially when you consider that IF you make it to the NBA, let's say, USA Basketball will only select about 1/30 of the players in the league to represent the United States in the Olympics Basketball tournament. Realistically speaking, the odds are very much slim to none and against you.
However, it doesn't mean making the Olympic Basketball team is an impossibility and that the selection process to get there shouldn't be explained.
OLYMPICS BASKETBALL - MEN
From the beginning in 1936 when basketball became a medal game in the Olympics, there have been many different ways in which the selection process was run to choose the players to represent the United States. From the original U.S. Olympics Basketball Games Committee that consisted of six representatives from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), four representatives from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and three other representatives (two were chosen by the American Olympic Committee) to various organizations competing in a tournament to trials of individual amateur players, not teams, to choose from to today's current process.
Since 1992, the first year in which professional players from the NBA were allowed to play in the Olympics, the selection process has basically been the same and controlled by USA Basketball - Olympic Trials were not held anymore and the previous season's production was used as a criteria for the selection committee in choosing players to send to the Olympics.
For the most part, a college basketball player on the team is a rarity. In fact, for players such as Christian Laettner (1992) and Emeka Okafor (2004), they were not so much college players anymore as they would be entering their NBA rookie seasons the following Fall. So, to make this team, you really need to make the NBA first... and then excel to a high level as to catch the selection committee's attention.
OLYMPICS BASKETBALL - WOMEN
When Women's basketball became a medal sport in 1976, the selection process for players was conducted by the Olympic Women's Basketball Committee. Regional tryouts were conducted from which 34 players were invited to the Olympic Trials.
Eventually, in 1996, 25 players were invited by USA Basketball to create one solid national team, as opposed to choosing players regionally and/or in stages. This team consisted of WNBA players and would remain consistent in its duties to represent the USA. From this National Team, 11 players were chosen for the Olympics additional player not on the newly-formed USA National Team (Venus Lacey) was added to complete the needed 12 players to form a team. In 2000, the Olympic team consisted of all 12 members of the National Team.
Currently, the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team Committee is in charge of selecting the players to represent the United States during the Olympics. And if it hasn't been clear, the pool of players are selected from the WNBA.
So, the road to make the Olympics Basketball team is a tough one. Some might say a near impossible one. But, imagine how many of the players that eventually made it on the Olympics team felt the impossibility of it happening beforehand. Dreams can come true.
