A total of 24 current and previous basketball players of the U.S. professional league of the National Basketball Association (NBA) received medal during the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008, NBA said on Wednesday.
These professional basketball players played of the national teams of U.S. (gold), Spain (silver) and Argentina (bronze), the Communication department of the NBA Latin America & US Hispanic said on Wednesday in its website.
42 NBA players played for 12 national teams in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which is the biggest number since 1992.
U.S. defeated Spain and with this victory Jason Kidd extended his record to 56-0, which included the triumphs at the Olympic Games, those of the Olympic qualifying and the international friendly matches.
The Spaniards who won silver were Jose Manuel Calderon from Toronto Raptors, Rudy Fernandez from Portland Trail Blazers, JorgeGarbajosa from Toronto Raptors in 07-08, Marc Gasol from Memphis Grizzlies, Pau Gazol from LA Lakers, Raul Lopez (02-05) from Utah Jazz and Juan Carlos Navarro from Memphis Grizzlies.
Argentines winner of bronze were Carlos Delfino from Toronto Raptors 07-08 and Detroit Pistons 04-07; Manu Ginobili from San Antonio Spurs, Andres Nocioni from Chicago Bulls, Fabricio Oberto from San Antonio Spurs and Luis Scola from Houston Rockets.