LeBron James Will Attend Team USA's Minicamp

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James counts two Olympic gold medals on his resume as a member of Team USA (2008 and 2012), and he will reportedly attend the squad’s camp this offseason in Las Vegas.

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today noted that “James officially informs USA Basketball he will attend next week's mini-camp in Vegas” and shared some insight into James’ motivation and eventual decision regarding his status for the 2016 Olympics:

Although James may still be far away from an ultimate decision on the 2016 Olympics, attending the camp is noteworthy because USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo told Marc Stein of ESPN.com attendance in Las Vegas is mandatory if players want to be on the Olympic team.

James is at least keeping his options open down the line with this decision.

Dan Feldman of ProBasketballTalk discussed what James’ inclusion at the camp means: “That will buy him time to make this decision, and as we all expected, it’s his decision. LeBron has been too good and has been too important to USA Basketball to leave him home. Even as the talent pool rises, LeBron is a lock – if he wants to play.”

Colangelo himself also commented on James’ status before the 2016 Olympics, per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports: “He is one of the greatest players of all time. If he wants to be on the team, how is he not going to be on the team? It’s really not my call. It’s really his call. If that is still important to him and what he wants to do, I truly believe that’s what he wants, than he will be there.”

The question with James and Team USA moving forward is certainly not about his talent. Rather, the four-time MVP will be 31 years old before the 2016 Olympics and has significant mileage on his basketball legs already.

In fact, he has played in the past five NBA Finals and could add yet another appearance to that list during the 2015-16 season if the Cavaliers live up to their astronomical potential. Whether all of that wear and tear on James’ body is ultimately too much to play in yet another Olympics remains to be seen.

Still, nobody can question his commitment to his country as a critical member of two gold-medal-winning squads. There is still a chance he could take home a third because he will attend this camp in Las Vegas.