MIES (Switzerland) - The Olympic hangover is real. After nearly three weeks of some of the finest basketball ever played, our bodies and minds are still in the process of getting used to everyday life again.
That doesn't stop us from thinking about Lille and Paris, though. It's time to pick out the breakout stars of the Olympics.
Some of them are well known names, but they still managed to increase their level of performance against the toughest competition.
Some of them are new faces to the international scene, but all of them have one thing in common. It was so fun to see them grow with each game in France this summer.
Guerschon Yabusele - France
France first division, then France second divison. China, NBA G League, then NBA, but never for more than seven minutes a game. Then China again, France and finally Spain.
Those were Guerschon Yabusele's stations in his club career. His athleticism has always been praised, and his attitude made him a fan favorite wherever he showed up. But at the Paris 2024 Olympics, he probably even surprised himself.
We will never forget the MVP chants for him during the Final of the Olympics, as he carried the hosts to a dramatic finish against the United States, pouring in 22 points in the Quarter-Finals against Canada, 17 points with 7 rebounds in the Semi-Finals against Germany, and 20 points in the gold medal game.
Incredible numbers for Yabusele, and at 28 years of age, and he needed something like this after his first season in single digits in points per game since his NBA stint had ended in 2019.
Expect him to back in double digits with Real Madrid next season. And don't be surprised if a trip back to the NBA is in his plans in the future.
Isaia Cordinier - France
Evan Fournier was full of praise for the man who actually took his spot in the starting lineup. He shared how Isaia Cordinier was the last player to be cut before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and the last one to be cut before the FIBA EuroBasket 2022, while Isaia said it himself that he doesn't even consider FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 as his first major competition, because he was only invited after a late injury of another player.
But now, at the 2024 Olympics, Cordinier proved he belongs at this stage.
It all started with him:
Cordinier sparks France to Semis with best game of his life
He spent the last three seasons in Italy with Virtus Bologna, building a reputation of an athletic wing who makes a living on the defensive end, and coach Vincent Collet mentioned that he inserted him among the starters because of his ability to lock down an opposing guard.
In the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals, Cordinier was actually the leading scoring force in the backcourt for the hosts, a massive 20 points against Canada, followed by 16 with 7 rebounds against Germany.
He looked like a superhero for the hosts, and not a lot of people had it in their books, as he was coming off his worst scoring season (8.1 points per game) since his days at Antibes in 2016-17 (6.5 points per game).
Aleksa Avramovic - Serbia
There's one easy way to describe everything Aleksa Avramovic does. If he's on your team, you love him the most. If he on the other team, you hate him the most.
The ultimate competitor, you could tell Avramovic had something special in him for the Olympics, as he was drawing charges and playing in sixth gear even during the preparation camp.
Once the real thing started, Aleksa - the same player who shot just 29.5 percent from three last season - could not miss, taking on Steph Curry in a hot shooting battle in the first quarter against USA, and getting 15 points in a hurry.
He also had 13 points with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to drag Serbia to bronze in the Third-Place Game against Germany, proving that he was their third most important player, after Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Read more about the best defender
Aleksa Avramovic is Paris 2024 Best Defensive Player
With his elite defense, he picked up the FIBA Best Defensive Player of the Olympics award. He's off to CSKA Moscow next season, after spending the past three years with Partizan in Belgrade.
Jack McVeigh - Australia
We've all seen his hot shooting heroics for the Tasmania JackJumpers in the NBL, but not a lot of people expected him to transition from the JackJumpers to the Boomers without breaking a sweat.
Jack McVeigh fit into coach Brian Goorjian's plans perfectly, as a clear catch-and-shoot target for Josh Giddey to find on the perimeter, and he finished the Olympics on 9.5 points per game, hitting 52.0 percent of his field goals, 52.6 percent of threes, and 100 percent of free throws.
He came up big when they needed him the most, in a stressful game against Spain, where he ended up with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, plus 7 rebounds, pointing Australia to a win and the Quarter-Finals.
That's where he once again scored 13 points, but could not stop Serbia's incredible comeback from -24 to an overtime win.
McVeigh played in the NCAA with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and spent all of his club career in the NBL in Australia, apart from the 13 games he played for MLP Academics Heidelberg in Germany in 2022-23.
He is embarking on a new adventure this summer, with a lot of confidence gained through the Olympic experience. He signed a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets. A three-point catch-and-shoot specialist in the NBA? Yep, sounds like he could have a future there, for sure.
Vasilis Toliopoulos - Greece
Another Billy shining bright for Greece. Vasilis Toliopoulos picked up the Most Improved Player award in the Greek League last season, just before his 28th birthday, and then he joined the national team and proved the award was well deserved.
Toliopoulos struggled to find the right role early on in his professional career, never playing more than 10 minutes until he moved to Aris Thessaloniki at 22 years of age.
He then changed his location six times in six years, but always found his way back to the yellow-and-black part of Thessaloniki, becoming the leader of Aris and posting 13.5 points per game in the Greek League last season.
Still, in a lineup with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nick Calathes, Georgios Papagiannis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Dinos Mitoglou and others, it was hard to expect Vasilis to have any kind of impact out of nowhere.
But in his first major event with the national team, Toliopoulos made Greece believe in miracles again, as he finished the Olympics with 10.8 points in just 18.6 minutes per game, becoming the second-best scorer for the nation en route to the Quarter-Finals for the first time in 16 years.
The best part is that he could be even better, because he made just 33.3 percent of his threes. Earlier this summer, he was on 61.5 percent shooting from deep across four games of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament!
Bul Kuol - South Sudan
We already wrote about South Sudan's hottest shooter.
Read more about his impressive group stage
Unsung Heroes: Now the world knows who they are at last
That was after the group stage. Now, after the entire event, it feels like he was even better than we originally thought, and was among the best performers of the entire tournament.
Kuol had 13.0 points on - get this!!! - 72.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc at the Olympics, hitting 8-of-11 three-pointers in three games in what was his first-ever major competition with the national team.
He is still just a 27-year-old, but fans of basketball in Australia already consider him a legend, as he had three impressive seasons with the Cairns Taipans, including the last one when he made 40.8 percent of threes in 27 games.
Bul signed a three-year contract with the Sydney Kings in April, meaning he still has a lot of stories to tell in Australia. Hopefully, he'll tell them that the national team and the World Cup in 2023 will remain the only major competition he missed.
Yuki Kawamura - Japan
Most of us might not have seen it coming, but Yuki Kawamura always knew he belonged in this Olympic Games.
Read more about Yuki Karamura here:
Kawamura: Meet the man who almost stunned host France
Yuki Kawamura: Japan's next great XS-sized guard from Yuki Togashi
The 23-year-old point guard was playing in his first Olympics, only 2 years after making his senior national team debut. He was the second shortest player among all men's players in the Olympics. And that didn't stop him from making a name for himself, despite Japan being unable to claim a victory and get out of the Group Phase.
The most memorable game for one of the smallest players was also Japan's biggest game, going up against hosts France. In a game that went to overtime and saw Japan's star RUi Hachimura disqualified, Kawamura stepped up and took clutch shots on the way to recording 29 points on 6 three-point shots made, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
He'd follow that up with a 21-point, 10-assist outing against Brazil on the way to averaging an impressive 20.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game while shooting 40.6 percent from long range.
According to his current club in Japan's B.LEAGUE, Yokohama B-Corsairs, Kawamura had already agreed to an Exhibit-10 contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, scheduled to be signed in September. The Grizzlies should be feeling good about making their decision early on before Paris 2024.
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