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USA Basketball: Proposed Age Restriction Not Popular Among Current Olympians

In the wake of a rash of injuries to Team USA and with support from league owners, NBA commissioner David Stern has proposed that, following the 2012 London Games, basketball, much like Olympic soccer, should prevent players older than 23 from participating. As a result, players such as the Miami Heat's LeBron James or the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant would be prevented from suiting up for the U.S.

The suggestion, though, hasn't exactly been welcomed with open warms by the current players.

"It's a stupid idea. It should be a [player's] choice," Bryant told the AFP. "The Olympics is really about putting the best athletes out there to compete against the best. From a basketball standpoint, it would lessen the Olympics, absolutely.

"I don't think they really discuss it much with us, we just discuss it like this, we kind of voice our opinions through you guys [media]. We talk about it among ourselves. It's just a dumb idea."

(h/t Fourth-Place Medal)

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Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.