No part of the phrase “Dream Team” suggests dorm living.
And accordingly, you won’t find them hanging with the hoi polloi in the Olympic Village in Rio.
It’s been over 20 years since the “highly compensated NBA stars” who comprise Team USA’s Olympics basketball team first competed in the once-all-amateur games. With them have come some of the trappings of wealth — like the decision to take up temporary residence not in Rio’s official Olympic Village but a little farther off-shore, aboard the Silver Cloud cruise ship.
The Elysium touch isn’t totally new for the team, who NPR reports also stayed on-ship during the 2004 Olympics in Athens. It does offer, however, a potent visual symbol of a gated-community approach to dealing with the myriad problems — security, biological and otherwise — plaguing the current Rio games.
Put it this way: We’re not expecting Kevin Durant to sew his own shower curtain anytime soon.
#IOCLuxuryLodging. Putting together a shower curtain so we can shower and not flood the place. pic.twitter.com/omaBJ7Dlje
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) August 2, 2016
It’s crucial to note, of course, that the differentiating factor is not NBA standing, but good old-fashioned American exceptionalism. And if you don’t believe that, just get a look at Milwaukee Bucks point guard (and Australian) Matthew Dellavedova’s digs:
Getting moved in with the roomie @rbroekhoff45 #rio2016 #GoBoomers pic.twitter.com/CfVzD3IgMI
— Matthew Dellavedova (@matthewdelly) August 2, 2016
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