Team USA officially embarked on the Road to Rio this week when they gathered in Las Vegas for their first official practices in anticipation of next month’s Olympics games. NBA TV has really upped their coverage this time around, and aside from all the gloriously candid behind-the-scenes stuff, one of the many joys of USA Basketball’s training camp is watching the best players in the world both playing together on the same team and going head-to-head against one another.
It’s even better when you get to watch them play one-on-one and showcase their otherworldly offensive skills. That’s what happened Wednesday during practice at UNLV, and the video above features 15 full minutes of it for your viewing pleasure.
One of the highlights happens toward the very beginning, when Chicago Bulls superstar Jimmy Butler shows off the full repertoire, lighting up four defenders in a row, including D’Angelo Russell, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry, and DeMar DeRozan. It took newly-minted Mav Harrison Barnes to finally break the spell, and he showed off some scoring prowess of his own later on.
Despite the relative lack of star power, the men’s senior national team should be just fine in their quest to bring home a third consecutive gold medal.
