With the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday, the pool play portion of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament begins on Saturday.
Two former LSU basketball players and a present member of the LSU men’s basketball coaching staff will be on the floor for the three games of competition in the 12-team event which will send eight of the teams to the medal round.
Duop Reath and LSU Associate Head Coach David Patrick will be a part of Team Australia. The Boomers won the bronze medal in the 2021 Games (delayed a year by the pandemic).
Also, Puerto Rico advanced to the Games by winning a qualifying tournament for one of the last four spots in the tournament and part of the PR roster is former LSU Tiger point guard Tremont Waters.
The games will be played in Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
Australia opens early Saturday morning Baton Rouge time at 4 a.m. against Spain in a game that will start on Peacock and be available on CNBC beginning at 4:30 a.m. CT.
The Boomers second game in Group A against Canada will take place on Tuesday (July 30) at 6:30 a.m. against Canada (Peacock) and the final group stage game for Australia will be on Aug. 2 at 6:30 a.m. versus Greece. The contest with Greece will air on USA Network.
Puerto Rico opens on Sunday at 4 a.m. against South Sudan in a Group C game on CNBC. That will be followed with a game against Serbia on Wednesday, July 31 (10:15 a.m. Peacock). The final group game will be on Aug. 3 at 10:15 a.m. against the USA squad and that contest will air on NBC Sports (WVLA-TV in BR).
The quarterfinals to begin the medal round are Aug. 6 with the semifinals on Aug. 8 and the Gold Medal contest will be Aug. 10 at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Born in South Sudan, Duop Reath and his family moved to Brisbane when he was 9 before relocating to Perth his basketball dreams began.
The emerging center attended junior college in Texas and then was recruited to LSU in 2016 where he produced two-years of strong performances. Reath went unselected in the 2018 NBA draft but earned a Summer League contract with Dallas Mavericks.
He took his game to Serbia then made an impact in Euro League with KK Crvena Zveda winning championships in both the Serbian domestic and ABA leagues. Reath returned to Australia and made his National Basketball League debut in 2021, producing a strong campaign with the Illawarra Hawks.
Internationally, he was featured in four of the Boomers six games at the 2020 Olympic Games which netted a bronze medal.
Reath played in Lebanon before landing a spot on the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023. He had a breakout year in the 2024 NBA season averaging 9.0 points per game for the Trail Blazers and signing a multi-year contract late in the year with the Trailblazers.
David Patrick is beginning his second stint at LSU after a four-season coaching stint for the Tigers from 2012-16. Since 2019 he has been assistant coach for the Australian National Team and the Boomers won a bronze medal at the 2021 Olympics, Australia’s first men’s basketball Olympic medal. In 2019, the team reached the FIBA World Cup Final Four, which included the country’s first-ever win over the United States.
Waters was a key offensive player during the qualifiers, alongside New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado. Waters, 26, was Puerto Rico’s second-leading scorer, averaging 15.3 points per game. Waters shot over 50 percent from the floor, averaged 5.5 assists a game and played over 24 minutes a contest during the qualifying tournament.
As a freshman at LSU during the 2017-18 season, Waters averaged 15.9 points, 6.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. His 198 assists broke the school record for assists by a freshman. Waters was named to the Freshman All-SEC team and was the Freshman of the Year in Louisiana. After the season, Waters entered his name in the 2018 NBA draft but did not hire an agent to preserve his collegiate eligibility, announcing his return to LSU for his sophomore season.
The highlight of Waters 2018-19 season was highlighted when he scored the game-winning layup for LSU against the No. 6 seeded Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament on March 23, 2019. Waters shot 39.6 percent (17-of-43) from the field in the tournament, averaging 16.7 points, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.[9] He earned All-SEC first team honors that season.
He was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft in 2019 by the Boston Celtics and played for three NBA teams as well as earning 2020 NBA G-League Rookie of the Year. He continues to play professional basketball for the top-level league in Puerto Rico before joining the national team.
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