Miami's Erik Spoelstra says coaching 2028 Olympic basketball team will be 'honor of a lifetime'

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Erik Spoelstra was 13 the last time the Olympics were held in Los Angeles, and he remembers what it was like watching those games on television.

He’ll have a better view in 2028.

USA Basketball made it official on Tuesday, announcing that Spoelstra, the longtime coach of the Miami Heat, has been confirmed by its board of directors as the coach of the men’s team for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He takes over for Golden State coach Steve Kerr, whose tenure ended when the Americans captured a fifth consecutive Olympic men’s basketball gold at the Paris Games in 2024.

“Absolutely, absolutely humbled. I mean, it is the honor of a lifetime,” Spoelstra — a two-time NBA champion as Heat head coach — said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And I’m just really appreciative of it and being a part of the USA Basketball program. The Olympics are incredible, no matter where it is, but to have the opportunity to compete on your own soil, that’s simply remarkable.”

USA Basketball men’s national team managing director Grant Hill ultimately made the pick to offer Spoelstra the job. Spoelstra was on Kerr’s staff for the 2023 World Cup in Manila and the 2024 Olympics, which made him a logical candidate.

“I have known Erik Spoelstra for the better part of two decades and have gotten to know him better throughout our time with USA Basketball,” Hill said. "Spo is not only an outstanding coach, but a great colleague, friend and father, all of which make him the perfect choice to continue the USA Basketball men’s national team coaching legacy through 2028.”

Spoelstra will become the third person who coaches the U.S. men in a home Olympics, joining Bob Knight (who won gold in 1984 at Los Angeles) and Lenny Wilkens (who won gold in 1996 at Atlanta). Spoelstra is the first Heat coach to hold the job and will do so in the city where his boss, Heat president Pat Riley, became a coaching icon while leading the Los Angeles Lakers.

“When they asked me, one of the first people I thought of was Pat, because I felt that at some point he should have been the head coach for the USA program,” Spoelstra said. “And then my second thought was, ‘Oh, it’s going to be in L.A.’ It’s amazing, the serendipity of it. It’s a way for me to honor him as well because it will be in L.A., where he had so much success. I feel humbled by that.

“None of this would have happened without Pat and I’m the beneficiary of the opportunity. If I wasn’t part of the Miami Heat organization and worked for Pat all these years, this opportunity with USA Basketball would have never happened.”

Spoelstra, a father of three, agreed to take the job only after deciding what the demands — both time and travel — would mean for his kids.

If Paris was any indication, they’ll be fine.

“My kids still talk about it, being in Paris and celebrating the wins when we would come back on the bus. We'd go back into the hotel lobby and all the families were there cheering for us and hugging all the players and all staff. It was absolutely priceless,” Spoelstra said. “And then to finish off the night celebrating with ice cream for your kids, it was just amazing.”

Spoelstra was the presumed front-runner for months to get the job. It’ll come with immense pressure, since the Americans no longer can expect to be easy winners of Olympic gold. The U.S. had to rally from a 17-point deficit to beat Serbia in the semifinals in Paris last summer, then needed a flurry of four 3-pointers from Stephen Curry in the final minutes to hold off France for the gold medal.

“The game is global now,” Spoelstra said. “It’s where it should be. Great players are coming from everywhere.”

Spoelstra never really thought about a chance to coach the Olympic team, or even being involved in the program, until a conversation he had one day with Heat CEO Nick Arison, the son of team managing general partner and Basketball Hall of Famer Micky Arison. Nick Arison — who was part of the support staff when Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was coaching the national teams — told Spoelstra in that meeting that if he ever got asked to be part of USA Basketball, he needed to accept the offer immediately.

Those offers did come. USA Basketball national team director Sean Ford, former managing director Jerry Colangelo and former national team head coach Gregg Popovich brought Spoelstra in to coach the select team — the team that was assembled to practice with and against the Olympic team going into the Tokyo Games. That led to Kerr making Spoelstra part of the staff for the next Olympic cycle.

And now, he’s got the top job.

“When we won in Paris, after the anthem, Steve turned to me — and he was joking — but he said, ‘Hey, good luck in ’28.’ I was just really appreciative of that," Spoelstra said. "Guys like Steve, Pop and Coach K, who have been through it, they’ll want to make sure that you’re prepared in every way possible to represent the country and the team in an appropriate way.”

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