To commemorate the squad’s 25th anniversary, the Olympic Channel will air original 1992 Dream Team broadcasts, featuring Utah Jazz legends John Stockton and Karl Malone.
25 years ago this summer, basketball was changed forever when the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball squad, a.k.a. the Dream Team, dominated in Barcelona. It was the first time America sent the NBA’s best — in this case a cadre of future Hall of Famers, including Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson — to compete for a gold medal.
Fans in Salt Lake City had a vested interest in what was already must-see TV thanks to the inclusion of Utah Jazz stars Karl Malone and John Stockton. But for people around the world, the Dream Team’s exploits ushered in the sport’s evolution to a truly global phenomenon.
Next month, Jazz fans and hoops junkies from all over will have the chance to relive the action.
The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA — a joint venture between the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and NBCUniversal that launched on July 17 — will air all eight original Dream Team game broadcasts beginning on August 28 and running through September 4.
The gold medal final will conclude an 11-hour Labor Day marathon of Dream Team broadcasts.
America’s localized version of the Olympic Channel is available in 35 million homes stateside via Altice, AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, Spectrum and Verizon. It also operates as an over-the-top service through streaming platforms like DirecTV Now, Fubo, Hulu, Sony PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV.
Of course, if you don’t want to wait for the live broadcasts, you can head on over to the Olympic Channel’s website and watch the games right now.
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Malone was a key cog for the ’92 Olympic squad, averaging 13 points and a team-leading 5.3 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Stockton was limited on the floor during Olympic competition after sustaining a fractured right fibula during qualifiers.
My favorite memory of Stockton from the Barcelona games was the fact that apparently no one there knew who he was —
After winning gold in Barcelona, the duo went on to capture a second gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Malone was also selected to represent his country during the 2004 games in Athens, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.