Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine thought back to his memories growing up watching USA Basketball, yelling and cheering as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
So there was a moment, as he walked through the opening ceremony in Tokyo, following a short stint in health and safety protocols, where it hit him just how surreal this experience was.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” LaVine said on a video conference this weekend from Tokyo. “You get to see this as a kid growing up and so many different memories of watching all the players you looked up to do this and go through it as well.