The New FIBA World Rankings Are Out And To No Surprise Team USA Remains King
Jamie Squire. Getty Images.Now that the dust has settled and the Olympics are over, FIBA has finally released its updated World Rankings. With some surprises in the tournament I was interested to see what this new list looked like, and remember this is not something that has always had the US sitting on top. Ahead of the 2023 FIBA World Cup last summer, Team USA was actually 2nd behind Spain and we all saw what happened in that tournament (didn't even medal, good job Steve Kerr!). Somehow that disastrous finish of losing 3 of their final 4 games at the World Cup actually improved Team USA's standings, and don't ask me to explain how that works.
Well now that Team USA actually sent their best of the best and secured its 5th straight Gold Medal, not only do they remain atop of the World Rankings, but their lead is rather substantial
Not to spark a Noah Lyles level debate, but if we wanted to be technical about "World Champions" and a World Ranking, well then technically Germany is the "World Champion" seeing as how they won the World Cup. People suggest Team USA actually isn't the "World Champion" either because of this fact and shouldn't be called that just because they won the Olympics, yet their Gold Medal and this ranking seem to tell a different story. This just further illustrates how fucking stupid the whole debate is and will forever be.
Heading into the Olympics, Team USA had only a +10.9 point difference over Spain who at the time was ranked #2 in the World, As you can see, they have widened the gap and then some. The difference between them and Serbia is +79.9 points, whereas the total difference between the 2nd ranked team and the 10th ranked team is +60. I dunno, maybe it's just me but I get the sense that the US is very much still in the driver's seat when it comes to international basketball, even with these other countries on the rise. At the end of the day, things still run through us, and that most likely will be the case in any tournament Team USA takes seriously and sends their best players to.
I do have some other questions about this list though. Why is Argentina still so high? Are we sure Greece isn't better than Brazil as long as Giannis exists? Where is someone like South Sudan, a team that beat Puerto Rico? Canada flopped big time and didn't even medal, yet they improved 2 spots? I guess their Group Stage success meant more to the formula. You could also make the case that France has played their way into that 3 spot, and my guess is if they have a successful run at the next World Cup they'll make that leap into the top 3.
Either way though, remember this the next time you hear "the rest of the world is catching up" to Team USA. As things stand now, the gap is still pretty big. What we're about to learn though is if this current Team USA's +114 point differential (which was their lowest since 2004 at +37) was more of a Steve Kerr being a bozo issue or a sign of things to come from the rest of the world. There probably won't be a Steph/KD/LeBron to bail them out in 2028, so it's up to the next generation to keep this dominance going. The good news is the pipeline is filled with elite young talent that should be just fine moving forward, and it's not like these superstars from the rest of the world aren't getting older as well.
But as this most current rankings list shows, it's clearly Team USA…..gap….everyone else. As it should be.
