Kawhi Leonard and Tyrese Haliburton are expected to play for the U.S. Olympic team.

The U.S. men's basketball team, with three key players believed to be healthy, will be aiming for a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kawhi Leonard, Tyrese Haliburton and Joel Embiid are all cleared of injury doubts and are expected to be with the 12-man squad when training camp opens in Las Vegas on July 6, general manager Steve Kerr said on a conference call.

“At this point, I fully expect all 12 guys to be available,” said Kerr, who has been monitoring the team's progress with Leonard in particular.

The Los Angeles Clippers' Leonard and Indiana's Haliburton suffered season-ending injuries during the NBA playoffs, while Philadelphia's Embiid was limited to 39 regular-season games and his performance in other games was hampered by a left knee injury last season.

Leonard missed the final three games of the Clippers' first-round loss to Dallas in the 2024 playoff series because of soreness in his right knee, which has limited his playoff participation beyond 2021.

Haliburton, who led the NBA with 10.9 assists per game, strained his left hamstring in Game 2 and missed the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals against Boston, which won the four-game series.

Embiid returned late in the regular season and played in six games in the first round of the playoffs, when the Warriors lost to the New York Knicks. He averaged 33 points and 10.8 rebounds in the six-game series despite being injured, including a 50-point performance in the 76ers' 125-114 Game 3 victory.

That trio may make the U.S.'s bid for a fourth Olympic gold medal a little easier, but either way, the star-studded U.S. team will enter the tournament as favorites.

“Obviously, every position on the roster is important,” Kerr told reporters. “You never know how things are going to go. You get injuries, you get a bunch of stuff. You just never know. So we're in communication with everybody, and we'll be in communication with the whole team when we head to Las Vegas next week.”

“You never know how things are going to play out. There's always a chance for things to change. Whether it's injuries, preparation, whatever, I'm keeping everything open as a possibility.”

The Olympic basketball group stage will begin on July 27 and will conclude with the final at the Bercy Arena on August 10.

The U.S. will face Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on July 28 in its opening match of Group C, which also includes South Sudan and the winner of the six-team FIBA ​​Qualifier to be played in Puerto Rico from July 2-7. Puerto Rico is expected to advance.

The U.S. has won gold medals in four consecutive Olympics, beating Spain in 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. It beat Jokic's Serbia in 2016 Rio de Janeiro and France in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed for a year due to COVID-19.

Argentina (2004) is the only team to beat the United States in the last eight Olympic Games, but the competition will be tough.

Host nation France, featuring NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, enters the tournament with home-court advantage, while Germany won the 2023 World Cup.

“We understand the challenge that we face,” Kerr said on a conference call. “The basketball world is a lot better and a lot stronger than it was before. We know how good these teams are and we know we have to be at our best.”

The U.S. roster includes NBA stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards and Anthony Davis. Curry, 36, will be playing in his Olympic Games for the first time. Durant and James are selected for the fourth time.

The roster is loaded with talent and will create some intriguing lineup decisions for Kerr, who has led the Golden State Warriors to four NBA championships with Curry and two with Durant since 2015.

“My staff and I have talked about it at length,” Kerr told reporters. “It's a good problem to have, but I expect all 12 guys on this roster to be Hall of Famers one day.”

“So how do you pick five out of 12? It's about finding combinations that work, finding two-way lineups that can be effective on either side. Our big job in Las Vegas is to find those five combinations and ask all 12 of them to be absolutely committed to the goal of winning a gold medal, no matter what the outcome is or who's playing.”