While the United States is currently heading towards gold medals in 5×5 basketball, whether for men or women, the record in 3×3 is much less glorious at these 2024 Olympics.

Enough to convince the famous insider Brian Windhorst of a conspiracy…

If there are two gold medals that seem promised to Team USA at these Paris Olympic Games, they are those in 5×5 basketball.

The men’s team has assembled the cream of its pool of players after the fiasco of the last World Cup and has been crushing everything in its path since the start of the competition.

An observation that also applies to their female counterparts, to whom the throne seems just as promised.

That’s good, because it will be an opportunity to wash away the affront suffered in 3×3 basketball. Because contrary to what one might have believed, the US were hardly flamboyant in this discipline… The women at least managed to qualify for the semi-finals before laying down their arms against Spain, but the men did much worse.

Brian Windhorst’s FIBA ​​Conspiracy Theory

With only two wins in seven games, the teammates of former NBA player Jimmer Fredette did not even reach the playoffs, having already missed the Tokyo Games in 2021.

How can this be explained given the hegemony of American basketball? Already very critical of the Paris edition, the famous insider Brian Windhorst cries conspiracy on Pat McAfee’s podcast:

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You really want to know why (the men failed in 3×3)? I’ll tell you why: FIBA ​​doesn’t really want the United States to be good at 3×3.

They really want it to be for countries that can’t field teams in 5×5. So they do all these things, there are countless conditions to meet to qualify.

I’m not just talking about the team, like Kyrie (Irving) can’t just come in and play.

The only way you can play is if you’ve played in like 15 qualifying events. I’m making that number up, but they don’t want the Americans to win.

If Caitlin Clark had wanted to play, can you imagine what that would have been like? FIBA ​​doesn’t care about ratings, they’re only interested in growing the sport outside of the United States.

That’s not their priority.

A speech that doesn’t go down well with many fans, however, who point out the weakness of the roster sent to Paris:

The United States sends a team led by Jimmer Fredette and they complain when they lose?

Brian Windhorst does what he can to explain the failure of the United States in 3×3, but we can’t say that his arguments are the most constructive.

It is indeed recalled that like the US, no other country has selected an NBA player for the discipline…