Everything you need to know about the 1992 Dream Team (2024)

The sport of basketball spread its reach across the globe relatively quickly compared to other sports. Along with that, the NBA, the game's most competitive league, has also seen a significant rise in popularity internationally. From 2021 to 2022, League Pass saw its subscriptions outside the United States grow by 30 percent.

There are plenty of different factors that played a hand in the NBA's rapid increase in following around the world, and many of them continue to contribute to the league's continued growth to this day.

The league and its stars have a palpable impact and sway over pop culture, as proven by the various A-list celebrities that can be seen sitting courtside or the countless references made to the NBA and its players in songs, movies, and other pieces of mainstream media.

Historically, though, the catalyst of the NBA's growth overseas can be pinpointed to one specific event: the 1992 Summer Olympics.

By the time the United States Men's National Basketball Team donned their gold medals, the world had been officially introduced to some of the greatest players to have ever graced the sport, and they wouldn't soon forget the dominance, flash, and magnetism that squad brought to the international stage.

Dubbed the Dream Team, they might still be the greatest collective of talents to have ever come together on a basketball court.

History of the 1992 Dream Team

NBA players weren't always allowed to play in the Olympics

In 1936, basketball was officially named a sport for the Summer Olympics. The United States, with a significant head start in terms of its affinity for the game, reached the pinnacle in the first seven Olympics with basketball included.

At that time, professional players, meaning those paid to play the game, were barred from participating in the games. It's highly suspected that several countries belonging to the Eastern Bloc circumvented this rule by sending players who were enlisted in their respective militaries, but were actually paid by their governments to train in their sport full-time.

That didn't stop the U.S. from dominating the event early on, though, until 1972, when the Soviet Union upset the Americans in one of the most controversial games in the history of the sport, 51-50.

The U.S. would recapture their title in 1976 and 1984, giving them another two straight gold finishes, with the country boycotting the 1980 games in between. In 1988, though, the Americans would go on to suffer their worst defeat in international basketball, when they lost to Yugoslavia in the semifinals and only finished with bronze.

Even with America sending true amateurs who lost to the Yugoslavian professionals, their third-place finish was considered an embarrassment for the country.

In response, the U.S. and NBA commissioner David Stern worked alongside FIBA Secretary General Borislav Stanković to allow professional players to participate in the Olympic Games. Behind Stanković's efforts, FIBA introduced legislation that would allow NBA players to compete in international competitions, including the Olympics.

In the first Summer Olympics that allowed professional athletes, the United States wasted no time getting their best basketball players involved. The country assembled a team comprised of the greatest NBA players in the league at that time, and the Dream Team was born.

1992 Dream Team full roster and statistics

Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley led the way in Barcelona

The NBA, the United States, and the other Olympic countries couldn't fully know the impact and dominance that the Dream Team would go on to show by the end of the summer, but this moment didn't fly under the radar back then either. In fact, NBC broadcast a selection show announcing the first ten members chosen for the team on September 21, 1991:

• Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers
• Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns
• Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
• John Stockton, Utah Jazz
• Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
• David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
• Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
• Chris Mullin, Golden State Warriors
• Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
• Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

The final two players weren't decided until over eight months later. The selection committee, including legendary college coach Mike Krzyzewski, knew that they wanted one of the last spots to go to a collegiate player, to honor the original tradition of the Olympics. They chose Christian Laettner out of Duke University and the Portland Trail Blazers' Clyde Drexler to round out the roster.

Even with the exclusion of the Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas, who famously had bad blood with both Jordan and Pippen due to their teams' rivalry, there wasn't much controversy over the team's selections.

This was without a doubt a collection of some of the greatest NBA players at that time and in the history of the game. They would go on to prove it on the international stage in the 1992 Summer Olympics, leaving the world with no doubt that the NBA was the most talented basketball league on the globe.

Dream Team dominated the 1992 Summer Olympics

Undefeated in 14 games

Before they went to dominate the summer games, the Dream Team technically had to qualify for the Olympics first, dependent on their performance in the Tournament of the Americas. Their international debut would come in this event in their first match against Cuba.

Team USA wound up breezing through the Tournament of the Americas and easily qualified for the Olympics with an average margin of victory of 51.5 points in the prerequisite games.

They'd find their matches in the actual Summer Olympics to be a bit closer, but not by much. The Dream Team would overwhelm their Group A opponents and their adversaries in the elimination rounds by nearly 44 points per game.

The Dream Team absolutely dominated every team in their path en route to reclaiming gold for the United States. But the impact they had in Barcelona was far greater than just returning their country to the pinnacle of the sport of basketball.

These players were so far above and beyond just a collection of basketball talents. They were celebrities even among other professional Olympic athletes. Other Olympians, countless fans, and even their own opponents went to great lengths to get pictures and autographs from the members of the Dream Team.

Although it's not exactly quantifiable, there's no doubt that the Dream Team's dominance in the 1992 Summer Olympics inspired a new generation of basketball players across the globe, proven by the dramatic rise of international athletes in the NBA since that summer.

Basketball is now a global game and the NBA is one of the most popular leagues in the world, and a lot of the credit is due to the 1992 Dream Team.