The Dream Team vs. The Nation of South Sudan

The USA Mens Basketball Team defeated South Sudan 103-86 the other night, which is quite a big margin by basketball standards. Not a trainwreck by any stretch but safe enough to put the game out of reach of Hack-A-Embiid tactics or any last minute miraculous shots. In a qualification game in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympics South Sudan came within a point of a Dream Team that was kinda trying. However... and a this is a big however... let's adjust the starting score of this one basketball game to match the reality of the true starting point of these teams because it's probably more like 0 to -206.

"Let's adjust the starting score of this one basketball game to match the reality of the true starting point of these teams because it's probably more like 0 to -206."

Let's start with the financials because, we know that money counts for everything in both USA and South Sudan. If you don't have any, you are probably doomed in both nations, however in the Land Of The Free you are encouraged to have the fairytale dream that you can one day pocket the same staggering, eye-watering, mouth-drying sums of money that the American Basketball Team makes. A dream of which, in the case of these fifteen players, and three coaches happens to be true.

The Dream Team hail from the USA. The 2023 GDP of The Mighty USA was $27.36 trillion by their own statistics here and 28.781 trillion using Statistica. By constrast, South Sudan's GDP was a measly $6.52 billion positioning South Sudan as not just one of the poorest nations on Earth but THE poorest when adjusted per capita according to the IMF. This astonishing figure clocks in at around $422 for every man, woman and child in the country, about half of second place Burundi and nearly a third of third place Central African Republic.

So for the price of 2 tickets to Disneyland (or 1.7 pairs of Tropical Lebron 9's) the average South Sudanese citizen manages to survive for an entire year; all bills included.

Team USA will earn?$573,526,053 next season according to Sportrac.

This includes Kerr's new deal and the new contracts handed to Antman and Haliburton.

South Sudan will earn about $6.52 billion according to the International Monetary Fund and has a population of 10.91 Million.

This means that collectively The Dream Team earns $52.57 for every man, woman and child in the ENTIRE COUNTRY OF SOUTH SUDAN in the single season of 2024-25 or roughly 1/4 of the average Sudanese citizen's GDP.

In a single year the fifteen people and three coachs on Dream Team will earn 1/11th of the whole economy of South Sudan. The guaranteed money of the combined contracts of the Dream Team roster is $5.1 BILLION.

If we really want to get gnarly and ramp into National statistics, according to the IMF, the USA is on track to net 28.781 TRILLION in 2024. That is 4414.263 times more than South Sudan. Taking the US GDP and ividing by population of 333.3 million gives us a per capita with a US population of 333.3 million is $87,370.

Comparing per capita we are looking at $207.03 US for every $1 Sudanese. 207 to 1. How are they even on the same court?! If the US starts at zero, South Sudan are starting 206 behind. 207-1 or 0 to-206.

This is not throwing shade at America though, they've really been through it. After all they built the United States of America through civil war, the exact same situation that South Sudan finds itself in, and a probably the major cause of their current -206 point starting position on the court.

So let's get back to the game.

The tip off is between Anthony Davis (who is set to earn $58,456,490 USD next season according to Sportrac which is incidently 138522.4 South Sudanese citizens) and Wenyan Gabriel from South Sudan. The game is being commentated by a guy who learned his trade from the Boom Goes The Dynamite Guy and this Olympic Game actually a better experience with the volume off.

The teams trade baskets and play defence and for about 38 minutes the South Sudanese look right at home on the court next to seventeen millionaires and one billionaire. The South Sudanese Team actually takes the third quarter 21-18. A few shots rattle out of the rim for South Sudan and USA runs away with the victory by 17 points.

Is it a political statement? No. Did anyone take a knee during the National Anthem to protest the actual war back home? No. Will Bill Simmons talk about it? Possibly. So what happened?

The South Sudanese athletes shook hands with the superstars and headed back to the locker room ready to play the next game. Pretty humble for a team that should, with all factors being even, have won by one hundred and ninety-six points.

The South Sudanese athletes played their asses of and their entire nation should feel proud of their achievements but with the price of the average flat screen TV costing double their GDP how do they even watch it?

So what is the purpose of this article? I'm not sure - it started as a thought exercise while trying to block out Boom Goes The Dynamite Guy and ended up as some shonky maths and lots of googling but the sickening disparity of the difference between the athletes is worth thinking about. I'd say that it's the feeling that despite the consistant shape of the ball and length of the court, all things on this court do not feel even and demonstrates how there is a starting point beyond the tip-off that goes waaaaaay below zero.

"I'd say that it's the feeling that despite the consistant shape of the ball and length of the court, all things in sport do not feel even."

In fact the same sickening disparity weirdeness bothered me all night and prompted me to write my first ever LinkedIn article, which isn't something I've ever aspired to...or do maths again, which is something I'd definitely never had aspired to do. I had a feeling there was a starting place that was less than zero and thought i'd have a look at the numbers and see if I could figure out something closer to the true point differencial.

By any metric it's not even.

None of this Olympic Games is even at all and after this two weeks many of these athletes will go back home and either meld back into a barely functioning society or lace up the sneakers for another four year wait of feeling even with the rest of the world. Is it the feeling that a whole country functions on the same price of ten days of this "budget" version of the Olympic Games.

Maybe that's what it's about - feelings. I feel that the remarkable achievement of the South Sudanese Basketball Team might be getting glossed over. I feel like Team USA are perhaps a bit annoying when they whinge to the refs for an And-1 against a team that grew up immersed in stories of war and famine. I feel like LeBron's sneakers probably aren't worth 0.65 of a Sudanese citizen. It's all feelings, and in some ways I guess that's the purpose of the Olympic Games. Teams like South Sudan get to feel even with teams like the USA for 48 minutes at a time, momentarily forgetting the reality their countryman face and feeling like they can go toe-to-toe with some of the greatest athletes of all time.

But it's fair to say, the Olympic Games isn't, and never will be, fair. Perhaps it's time for the Per Capita Olympics and let's level the playing field for all.

-SH