REPORT: NBA ‘saddened by abuse’ of two Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis,at Olympics in Paris

Lakers News: Magic Johnson Congratulates Simone Biles For Winning Gold At 2024 Olympics

The 2024 Olympics in Paris are in full swing as the world has been treated to some amazing performances from the best athletes in the world. For the NBA, the league is watching the Olympics intently as there are numerous players representing their national teams. Team USA has gotten off to a strong start as they swept their five-game exhibition slate and are currently 2-0 in pool play behind stellar play from Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Team USA has already qualified for the quarterfinals of the tournament, though there is still work to be done as they have tougher challenges awaiting them. In the meantime, the women’s gymnastics team has been putting on a show the past few days and earning podium appearances.

Simone Biles established herself as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time after another dazzling routine that earned her a gold medal in the women’s all-around. Magic Johnson revealed that he was enjoying Biles’ performance like the rest of the world and congratulated her on her achievement, via his personal X account:

Me, Cookie, and everyone on the yacht were cheering on the USA women gymnasts in today’s All-Around final! The GOAT of gymnastics has done it again! Congratulations to Simone Biles for an electrifying floor performance and adding another Olympic gold medal to her collection…

In the wake of Biles’ medal-winning routine, Johnson recounted when he got a chance to sit with her and her parents back in 2017:

Biles captured two gold medals this Olympics, winning in both the team and all-around events for gymnastics. With nine Olympic medals and 30 World Championships, she is the most decorated gymnast in history and has won the most Olympics medals by a United States gymnast.

Like Biles, James is hoping to earn another medal to his collection. While he has set several milestones throughout his career, he is solely focused on winning more gold with Team USA this summer.

Snoop Dogg traveling with Lakers’ LeBron James & Team USA
Snoop Dogg has taken the Paris Olympics by storm as he’s been seen at several events the past week. Recently, he was seen in a video traveling with James and the rest of Team USA.

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LeBron James: It Doesn’t Matter Who Starts For Team USA In Olympics

Team USA had a much better outing against South Sudan in Olympic group play than their exhibition contest. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the Americans 103-86 victory to improve to 2-0 in the Olympics and sit atop Group C.

The story of Team USA on this night was the performance of their bench as Bam Adebayo and Kevin Durant led four players in double-figures with the bench really setting the tone. The contest also saw a different starting lineup with Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum replacing Joel Embiid and Jrue Holiday.

The change in lineups and rotation is something that everyone on Team USA is prepared for, however. LeBron noted that for everyone on this team, it is about playing at the highest level for the minutes they are out on the floor, via Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net:

“We know that’s part of what the coaching staff may do throughout the course of the tournament,” James said. “So, you know, we know it could be anybody’s number any given night, and it’s not about who starts, it’s not even about who finishes, it’s about when you’re in the game, you know, the minutes that you play, you play at a high level, and I think everybody did that in the minutes they played tonight.”

Against South Sudan it was Embiid who wound up making the sacrifice, going from starter to a DNP, but the big man was engaged throughout the contest, supporting his teammates all game long.