usabasketball.comThey're not the hoop legends from Dream Team '92, but many of the members of the U.S. Men's National Basketball Team are among today's biggest NBA stars.
And with Team U.S.A.'s 98-71 trouncing of France in their London Olympics debut, no doubt LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and company are off to a magnificent start in living up to the lauded reputation of their predecessors as they go for the gold.
In honor of their first victory at the games, E! News has rounded up 10 amazing facts about the new squad. Take a look!
2. Coach K: Behind every great team is a great teacher, and Duke's Mike Kryzyzewski, otherwise known as Coach K, is one of the best. A fabled figure at the college level, Kryzyzewski is now charged with guiding Team U.S.A. to the Olympic podium.
3. First Lady's Seal of Approval: The men have a huge fan in first lady Michelle Obama, who not only took in their triumphant victory over France from the front row, but also gave each and every one of the players a hug afterward.
4. Taking His Talents to Twitter: With 5.5 million Twitter followers in his domain, LeBron James has the fourth largest Twitter following for an athlete, not far behind fellow hoops legend Shaquille O'Neal. If and when he and his mates win a medal, expect King James to wax poetically the way he did after becoming an NBA champion.
5. Good Vibrations Indeed: If you didn't know it already, Kevin Love has a pretty surprising connection to the music world: He's the nephew of Mike Love from the Beach Boys!
6. When He Was 17: Speaking of musical connections, a lot of Kobe fans are likely unaware that Bryant took R&B star Brandy to his prom when he was the No. 1 high school basketball player in the country, as she recounted to MTV.
7. Survey Says! Aside from his hoop dreams, Chris Paul apparently fulfilled a longtime wish to mix it up with comedian and game show host Steve Harvey when he and the Paul clan appeared on the latter's Family Feud not too long ago.
8. The Richest Olympians: Aside from tennis champs Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, several of Team U.S.A.'s starters, led by LeBron, are among the highest-paid athletes in the world. James earned $53 million last year alone, according to Forbes, while Durant netted $25.5 million, Anthony $22.9 million and Paul $19.2 million.
9. Top Chef All-Star: When he's not running up and down the court, Sixers star Andre Iguodala is getting a workout in the kitchen. Per Food Republic, the big man's a big foodie whose favorite show is Chopped, and he loves to cook up a storm, especially grilling barbecue chicken.
10. In Good Company: Both Anthony and Durant attended Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., a boarding school most famous for turning out legions of NBA stars including Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith and Jerry Stackhouse, to name just a few.
Bonus—pranksters unite! After Kevin Love tweeted a pic of his teammates passed out on the flight to London, two days later Deron Williams got some payback of his own with an instagram pic of the former looking like sleeping beauty. Good to know the guys are keeping a sense of humor!