Team USA Basketball: Why Kobe Bryant Won't Top 2008 Olympics Performance

With the exhibition season over for Team USA, the team is in the final stages of its gear-up for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The American squad went undefeated in its five-game tune-up schedule, finishing up on Tuesday with a 22-point drubbing of world No. 2 Spain. With coach Mike Krzyzewski finally settled on a starting lineup and a relatively set rotation, Team USA seems to be rounding into form at the perfect time.

Regardless, there's one huge question that remains to be answered for the United States: Who will be the team's leader in crunch time?

In Beijing, there was never any question. Kobe Bryant was the team's leader, and he carried Team USA down the stretch when things got weary. During the 2008 gold-medal game, the Spanish opposition got the lead down to as little as two points in the fourth quarter. Bryant put to rest all hopes of the Redeem Team falling short, scoring 13 points down the stretch in the 118-107 thriller. 

In 2008, there was no spoken pecking order, but everyone knew Bryant was the man to look for. He was 29 years old, coming off an NBA Finals appearance and still arguably the best player in the world. 

The pecking order is not so clear as the team heads to London.

By any objective measure, LeBron James has usurped Kobe and every other Team USA player for the "best in the world" mantle—and by a pretty significant margin. James has won three league MVPs, an NBA championship and an NBA Finals MVP in the four years since Beijing. And LeBron's virtuoso performance this past postseason put to bed any argument about his lack of "clutchness."

So, fine. LeBron takes over the alpha dog role while 33-year-old Kobe slides nicely into a second banana spot. That shouldn't cause any problems.

Well, not so fast.

Kevin Durant, not Bryant, is the team's most deserving player to be second in command.

KD's game is the best suited to international play of anyone on Team USA's roster, and it showed during the exhibition season. Multiple top-notch performances forced Krzyzewski to sit incumbent starter Carmelo Anthony for Durant, and the 23-year-old seems unbelievably motivated after losing in the NBA Finals.

And, statistically speaking, Durant has become a better player than Bryant late in games, according to 82games.com's "clutch stats" metric. 

By any standard, the 2012 version of Team USA should be LeBron's and Durant's team. And that's before even mentioning Chris Paul, whose resurrection of the Clippers cannot go without credit.

For the ultra-competitive Bryant, it could be tough staying satisfied with stepping down from his lead actor role to become a member of the team's supporting cast. Bryant is the type of player who not only wants to equal his Beijing performance, but top it in London.

That shouldn't happen if Team USA is trying to win the ball game, and Bryant will need to check his ego and allow the better players to take over, much like they did for him in 2008.

It will be a tough, yet necessary pill for Bryant to swallow if he wants to walk away from Olympic competition undefeated.