Jerry Colangelo Comments on LeBron James' Status with 2016 Olympic Team

After leading the United States Olympic men's basketball team to consecutive gold medals, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James has a spot on the 2016 squad waiting for him if he decides to play in Rio de Janeiro.  

According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo is leaving a vacancy on Team USA's roster in anticipation of King James participating in his fourth straight Summer Games:

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He will be in town during the course of this week‎ (for minicamp). He won't be participating in any practices to the best of my knowledge, but ... he knows he has a (roster) spot. If he wants to perform—and I believe deep down inside he does—then I would expect that he will be playing for us next summer.

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Colangelo's latest comments come on the heels of him questioning whether LeBron desires to compete for Team USA next year, per Joe Vardon of Northeast Ohio Media Group:

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LeBron has had an incredible career, and I know how many minutes he's played. He's played a lifetime of minutes. He's been involved with Team USA basketball since he was 19. This is totally up to him—he has to make the call whether he wants to go after three gold medals. One thing I need to find out: is he desirous, is he committed. I don't know that right now, and I need to find out at some point. An indicator will come next week when we see who shows up.

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Colangelo made it clear that those who want to be considered for the 2016 Olympic team needed to appear at the minicamp in Las Vegas from Aug. 11-13. While James will leave early due to prior commitments with his foundation, the fact that he's showing up suggests that he has interest in returning to the Olympics.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has led Team USA to two straight Olympic golds, recently discussed the manner in which he will handle his players, especially those who play deep into the playoffs, according to The Jim Rome Show (via JimRome.com):

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They know that we don't over practice, that we take in consideration what they've just gone through and then adapt. They know that I will adapt and work with them. These guys know, we have relationships with them and we don't put them in harm's way and we try to make sure the time to do their individual, all of them have individual routines that they have, and we provide time and make the necessary adjustments so all of them can do those things.

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Securing LeBron would be significant not only because he is the best player in the world but also because he may be the top player in Olympic basketball history, as evidenced by these stats, courtesy of Cavs Nation on Twitter:

While Team USA will be heavily favored regardless of LeBron's status, due to the presence of top stars like Stephen Curry, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and others, landing LeBron would still be a major coup.

He adds a different dimension to the team in terms of his skill set and will to win, and his presence also has the ability to inspire future generations to represent their country.

The odds are very much in favor of James going all the way to the NBA Finals once again in 2016, but based on his competitiveness, it would be fairly surprising if he opted for rest over playing in the Olympics.

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