Where U.S. basketball players stay during the Paris Olympics

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Have no fear, basketball fans: This year’s “Dream Teams” will have access to air conditioning and normal beds, rather than the cardboard variety found in the Olympic Village, throughout their time at the Summer Games in Paris.

In fact, the United States’ star-studded men’s basketball team, led by LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, and the women’s team, led by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, will enjoy luxury accommodations and five-star hotels as they shuttle between Paris, which will host the gold medal game Aug. 10, and Lille, a city in northern France that is hosting their opening-round games.

Due to security concerns and the expectations of a roster that will combine to earn more than $500 million in salary during the 2024-25 NBA season, the U.S. basketball teams have booked out an entire luxury hotel in Paris, in the city’s center, for the duration of the Olympics after arriving by train from London on Wednesday. The U.S. men’s basketball team has made its own accommodations since Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the original “Dream Team” took Barcelona by storm in 1992.

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USA Basketball doesn’t publicly disclose its travel preparations to protect the security and privacy of its players, their families and program staffers.

To maximize their time in Paris, this year’s team will hold practices in the capital city and then travel by private train to Lille, which is about an hour north, on the day before their three group-stage games against Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico. Much like a road trip during the NBA season, the team will stay the night before their games at a five-star hotel in Lille, just a short walk from the city center, and then depart for Paris shortly after the games.

Lille, which has a population of nearly 230,000, sits near the Belgium border and is the largest city in northern France. The city’s downtown boasts two train stations and La Vieille Bourse, an iconic stock exchange building that dates from the 17th century.

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The basketball tournament’s group stage is being held at Pierre Mauroy Stadium, a converted soccer facility that sits in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, about 15 minutes east of central Lille. The arena’s basketball configuration seats 27,000 fans and has appeared sold out for the first two days of play. Pierre Mauroy Stadium hosted EuroBasket, a major international tournament, in 2015 but the presence of American basketball stars was viewed as a big deal throughout the city. Posters promoting the Olympics dotted the city’s streets, and basketballs appeared in many shop windows.

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Preparations for U.S. basketball’s stay in Lille before Sunday’s opener against Serbia began last week, when staffers arrived at the hotel, which boasts a spa and art gallery. Hotel staffers decorated the hotel’s entryway with American flags and a full-sized basketball hoop, and they hung USA Basketball jerseys on walls near the lobby. Security staffers watched the front door around the clock, and a barrier near the entryway to create a pathway for the players to walk from their bus to the hotel’s front door.

Even though the players weren’t yet in town, dozens of basketball fans and autograph seekers spotted a large private bus shuttling team staffers and crowded around the hotel’s front entrance last week in hopes of seeing the American stars.

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Rooms in the hotel featured wood-lined walls, marble bathtubs and long windows with views of private courtyards. Hotel employees also spoke excitedly about the possibility of seeing the team, and one predicted James would get the property’s premier suite. Guests were instructed to check out by noon Saturday to accommodate the team’s arrival.

Though one of the arson attacks on France’s rail system took place on the line between Paris and Lille, the men’s basketball tournament has come off without a hitch. Several reporters arrived late to France’s opening win over Brazil on Saturday because of the rail disruptions.

The men’s basketball tournament will shift back to Paris’s Bercy Arena for the quarterfinals Aug. 6. That venue, one of the Olympics’ premier facilities, is hosting gymnastics this week.

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