Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Durant and James won gold medals as teammates in the 2012 London and 2024 Paris Olympics. "It's really on [USA Basketball managing director] Grant Hill and what Team USA wants to do," Durant said. "I stay on top of my game and hopefully I get that call, but there's so many great players who deserve to be on the team."
Grant Hill: 'Contrary to popular belief, I do like Jaylen Brown. I love his game, and things got difficult there with that team. In putting the team together, just to give some context, we had Kawhi Leonard on that penciled in on that team, and he got hurt at the end of that season in 2024. He came to camp, he wasn't right, and so we had to pivot. A couple of things happened at that camp, and people want to believe what they want to believe, but at the end of the day, Kevin Durant showed up, he was hurt. He had a grade one calf strain, and I think we all have PTSD from the last time he had a calf strain, so we were very patient with him. Jayson Tatum had just had a baby, so he showed up late. Joel Embiid was, you know, we knew we were managing him, but we needed him for Nikola Jokic against Serbia, because that was the matchup. We didn't have our full roster, and then we started looking around and saying, oh man, like Jrue Holiday was so important for us in the FIBA game. A point guard who can play his role, ball pressure, the whole nine. If Jrue got hurt, our point guards were Jrue Holiday and Stephen Curry, and defense wasn't necessarily their strong point. It was like, okay, let's bring in insurance for Jrue Holiday and like Derrick White. So that was the thought process.'
NBA Courtside: Grant Hill on Jaylen Brown not being on the USA team: “When I announced then team, there were certain guys that I called before Woj and Shams broke it. And I called like Lillard, I called Jimmy Butler, I tried to call everybody because you never know when they’re going to break it. And you want to give guys the respect to hear it from me. I called Jaylen. We had a great conversation. Unbelievable conversation. And so something got lost there. And the implication that like a shoe company like to me that, look you guys can criticize my leadership. You can criticize the ability to put together a roster. When you’re in a role that I’m in, you open yourself up to criticism and I accept that. But to imply that like a shoe company told me what to do. Now you questioning my character, and that was the things that was weird.” (Via @RoadTrippinShow)
But Ford truly began to understand Brunson when he asked him back to play for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup in 2023. Brunson wanted to play for the national team again, but he had scheduled his wedding on a date that conflicted with the tournament. Ford and executive director Grant Hill prepared to move on. A few days later though, Ford got a call. Brunson confirmed that he would play. "[Villanova coach] Jay Wright called and was like, 'I can't f---ing believe he's changing his wedding to play for you.'"
"There were mistakes made in terms of managing my injury. ... Feeling like the medical community didn't do me right." @realgranthill33 speaks out on his complicated injury history that began with a left ankle injury in 2000.
Advertisement
NBA Courtside: Grant Hill on Co-Winning ROY with Jason Kidd: “I got robbed. J Kidd knows that, that’s my guy we came in together. You know, I always joke about it and I always tell him this too. We were teammates at the Nike camp in high school. I don’t think he passed me the ball one time. He was rising sophomore and I’m a rising senior, he supposed to be this great point guard and he never passed me the ball at Nike camp. And then they beat us in the legendary tournament matchup where Cal beat us in the second round. I did have a broken toe. I always remind him of that and that’s why they won. And then he goes one spot ahead of me in the draft and then I got to share the rookie of the year with him. So, you know, I’m still a little bitter about that. But if I got to share it with somebody it might as well be him. Go back and look at the stats. That’s all I’m going to say.” (Via @VinceAndTmac )
Grant Hill on Co-Winning ROY with Jason Kidd:
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 14, 2026
“I got robbed. J Kidd knows that, that’s my guy we came in together. You know, I always joke about it and I always tell him this too. We were teammates at the Nike camp in high school. I don’t think he passed me the ball one time. He… https://t.co/kyWvJrbRJo pic.twitter.com/oIJ8a6Olu2
Run It Back: “If Grant Hill was 100% healthy, he would've never left Detroit." Tim Hardaway Sr. says Grant Hill would've been "up there" if injuries didn't derail his career
"If Grant Hill was 100% healthy, he would've never left Detroit."
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 13, 2026
Tim Hardaway Sr. says Grant Hill would've been "up there" if injuries didn't derail his career 🤕@MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/H7zni2kDvF
Ohm Youngmisuk: Pistons celebrating former Detroit legends in the house from Grant Hill calling the game to Big Ben Wallace seated courtside. The Detroit crowd is loving it.
Along the way, when asked this season of his eventual Olympic job, Spoelstra had made clear that USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill and Team Director Sean Ford are keeping him up to speed, while also respectful of his day job. “Right now, there’s not a whole lot of action going on,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve kept in touch with both Grant Hill and Sean Ford, and we met up probably two months ago. But it was more general talks of two summers from now and scheduling, and what that’ll look like. We’ll probably get together in some fashion this summer for a little bit more extended time. I don’t know if we’ll do anything with players, but certainly we’ll meet. “I love the whole process, so of course when we play and compete against teams, there’s players that will come to mind. But I’m not sweating that right now. That’s really for Grant. It’ll be a collaborative effort. But there’s plenty of time for that.”
Sam Smith: The Bulls made offers: Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Eddie Jones, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, literally every single one. And they ran away, fast. They just ran away from playing after Michael Jordan. (…) While all these other great players ran away from the Jordan shadow, Kobe Bryant ran to it. He was like the firefighter running to the fire. He was the policeman who ran toward the 9/11 terrorist attack. Everybody else was running away for safety, and he was running toward it.
Advertisement
Grant Hill: I think you you know, the World Cup and and the Olympics are very different. Um, you know, I think the Paris Olympics in 24 certainly hopeful with the 28 Olympics in Los Angeles, players wanted to play. They wanted to be a part of that and we're real grateful and thankful for that. You know, it's a little bit of a of a tougher sell with the World Cup if I'm being honest. And so, it's an opportunity, I think, to really the idea of really truly building a roster. And, you know, I loved the guys that we had in in in 2023 in World Cup. And, uh, we came close. You know, we [clears throat] we we we competed, we played hard. Offensively, we were the most efficient offensive team since 2004 in in terms of USA basketball. We were also the the least uh efficient defensive team since 2004.
But now that the salutations for the honor bestowed upon Spoelstra to take over for Steve Kerr as U.S. coach are finished, the next order of business for him, for Hill, and for Sean Ford, who oversees day-to-day operations for the men’s national team, is to stop the bleeding at the World Cup. “We have not fared well,” Hill said. “Spo and I were together in Manila in ’23 and and went through the highs and the lows of that experience. I know I’ll do better in terms of putting together the best roster we possibly can. I’ve learned a great deal since that experience. But it won’t be easy and we’re in it to win, and we understand the rest of the world has grown. The game has expanded, as it should, and as I say, it’s great for the NBA – it makes it tough for us but we’re not afraid of tough and we welcome that challenge.”
Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton were the two holdovers from the last World Cup team to play for the U.S. in Paris. “We have some time, and one of the great things is to see who emerges,” Hill said. “You have two years before the World Cup, and it seems like every season there are players who take a step in their development and become better players, all star players, players whose games translate to international play. “It’s great to get these players in the pipeline,” Hill continued. “The great thing is, yes, the world is getting better, but we are too. We still have some great players in this country, great young players. And you know, it’s on me to get out and recruit and you know, sort of share with guys the importance of doing this.”
Hill said there have not yet been any discussions about whether Spoelstra’s tenure as Team USA’s head coach will extend beyond the 2028 Olympics. “His leadership skills, basketball intellect, ability to connect with people, players, his staff, his ability to collaborate just kind of checked all the boxes,” Hill said of Spoelstra. “I came away even more impressed with him as a coach, as a leader, as a man, as a father, and he’s thrilled. We are thrilled. I mean, we got our guy.”