LeBron James and Steph Curry had never played together on Team USA before this summer, but that drought ended when James called Curry in the fall.
“He was the first person I talked to,” Curry said in recent days, according to ESPN. “’Could this be something I want to do?’ And from there it was like, ‘Let’s get it.'”
Curry played for Team USA in the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups, but has never been to the Olympics.
“I’ve played with Team USA before in the world championships, but I don’t know what to expect when it comes to this challenge and this experience. And so I had the jitters of the first practice.
“… Add the reality of who’s on the team and all the struggles we’ve had throughout our career and the fact that we’re able to bring those strengths together as teammates. So I’m enjoying every minute of this.”
Curry added that he had a lot of respect for James even though he had heated battles with him in the finals in previous years.
“It was like a healthy hatred of the person standing in your way,” Curry said of his playoff battles with James. “But overall, obviously there’s a lot of respect for who he is as a person and a player and how good he is and the challenge of trying to beat him and trying to solve that problem every year.”
It didn’t take long for the two rivals-turned-teammates to create a memorable moment on the court when Team USA played Canada in their first Olympic warm-up game on Wednesday, with Curry feeding James with a tight alley-oop.
Team USA will return to the court when they face Australia in Abu Dhabi on July 15.
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