While things are going pretty well for the American men in the 5-on-5 Olympic basketball tournament, the 3×3 team didn’t exactly put their best foot forward. The team came in seventh out of eight squads that qualified for the Olympics, and were one of the team teams that missed out on qualifying for the knockout round.

The United States tends to pride itself on its basketball program — its men’s and women’s 5-on-5 teams are dominant at the Olympics, while the 3×3 women’s team followed up a gold in 2020 with a bronze in 2024. The men’s 3×3 side, though, didn’t qualify in 2020 and laid an egg this time around. In the eyes of Draymond Green, this is not acceptable, and we need to start sending NBA talent to participate in this, and identified some of the players he believes would have a positive impact.

“Why are not young NBA players on the 3×3 team?” Green asked on his podcast. “Like, guys that, A, has not gotten an opportunity to play on the national team yet, or B, guys that may never get the opportunity? Naz Reid, animal. Naz Reid would destroy them dudes. Naz Reid gives guys fits in the league, everybody. Naz Reid, Jalen Green, you got, like, big Jalen Duren. A fourth? Number one, again, this is about building a resume. However, I think he’s on his way to being a superstar, and he’ll probably be on the next Team USA, Tyrese Maxey.”

Green then pointed out how he saw Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young lead the 3×3 team to a medal in Tokyo, and now, both are playing for the women’s 5-on-5 team. Now, it is a bit difficult for reasons that the fine folks over at USA Today laid out right here to have NBA players on the 3×3 team, which is a big reason why the American roster was made up of Jimmer Fredette, Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox, and Dylan Travis. But if NBA players ever could make it, it certainly would be fun to see some of the dudes Green identified play on that level.