Whenever there’s a list of the greatest sports teams of all time, there are often lots of squads thrown into the discussion, but there also seems to be one constant. The United States men’s Olympic basketball team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, also known as the Dream Team, is on seemingly everyone’s shortlist for being among the greatest ever. They dominated the competition in Barcelona en route to winning a gold medal, and now one of those 12 gold medals handed out to the 12 players is available for auction.
The Letter of Authenticity from Drexler was signed and dated by him on April 9. It’s unclear why Drexler is auctioning off this piece of sports history, but the letter also states that he won’t “seek a reproduction of the Gold Medal through the U.S. Olympic Committee or other related organizations at any time in the future.”
Drexler is one of 11 Hall of Fame players on the 12-player squad, and he’s been inducted twice into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The first came in 2004 due to his playing career, which spanned 15 seasons from 1983-98 with the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets. Drexler was a ten-time All-Star, a five-time All-NBA selection, and won a championship with the Rockets in 1995. He was also named to the league’s 50th-anniversary team in 1996 and 75th-anniversary team in 2021. He averaged 20.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.6 assists over his career, making him one of 11 NBA players to average 20-5-5 over their career.
The Dream Team remains so legendary due to how and why the team was constructed, as prior to the 1992 Olympics, FIBA rules prevented NBA players from participating in the national team. Thus, amateur Americans routinely composed the Olympic squads. At the same time, other nations were allowed to use their best professional players, culminating in the United States settling for a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics. That all changed prior to 1992, which was the first Olympic year in which NBA players could be selected for the national team.
However, Drexler was not among the initial ten players selected for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The original ten were Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson and Chris Mullin. They were picked prior to the 1991-92 NBA season, with the season then determining how to fill out the last two roster spots.
Drexler would then have arguably the best season of his career, finishing as the MVP runner-up to Jordan and leading the Trail Blazers to the NBA finals, where they were defeated by Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. It was during the playoff run in May 1992 that Drexler was added to the Dream Team as the 11th member. It was also then that the U.S. Basketball Committee added then-Duke star Christian Laettner as the 12th and final member as an ode to the prior amateur system. Laettner remains the only one of the 12-man team not to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
When the Dream Team arrived in Barcelona in July 1992, they made up for the decades of lost time due to the old amateur rules by destroying any and all competition. They won their eight games by an average of 44 points, with each victory coming by at least 32 points. Opponents revered the Dream Team as much as they feared them, as several opposing players infamously requested autographs and pictures of Dream Team members during pregame warmups.
Drexler started three of the eight Olympic games as every player took on a reduced role compared to their NBA playing time, with Jordan the only player starting all eight games. Drexler averaged 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.5 steals during the 1992 Olympics, and that would be his only appearance on the United States men’s national team in his career.
Since retiring from the NBA in 1998, Drexler spent time as the head coach of the Houston Cougars’ basketball team from 1998 to 2000 and as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets from 2001 to 2002. He also spent time as a TV broadcaster for Rockets games and currently serves as the commissioner of the BIG3 three-on-three basketball league.
