Basketball at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games:

The Soviet Union had won the 1982 World Championships and dominated the European Championships since the 1980 Olympics. They were considered a challenge to the United States basketball dominance, but in retribution for the 1980 US boycott of Moscow, the USSR boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. With the USSR not present, the biggest challenges to the United States were considered to be Spain, Italy, and Yugoslavia.

But the absence of the Soviet Union probably did not affect the final outcome as the United States 1984 Olympic basketball team rivaled the United States 1960 team as a great amateur unit. The team was coached by the controversial Bob Knight, then of Indiana University, and was never challenged in winning the gold medal. It was led by Michael Jordan of the University of North Carolina, who would later be considered the greatest professional player ever. The team members were Steve Alford, Leon Wood, Patrick Ewing, Vern Fleming, Alvin Robertson, Michael Jordan, Joseph Kleine, Jon Koncak, Wayman Tisdale, Chris Mullin, Samuel Perkins, and Jeffrey Turner. Ewing, Jordan, and Mullin would also later play on the 1992 Dream Team. The US team won their games by an average of 32 points per game. Spain won the silver medal and Yugoslavia the bronze medal.