Are gold medals better than a championship? A ringless NBA legend settles the debate

For years now, we have seen many versions of the men's USA basketball team. Athletes from all over the world, regarded as the best of the best in this sport come together to play against each other. Fans have seen teams like the Dream Team, the Redeem Team, and the latest version of excellence that was deemed the Avengers.

It is a great feeling to be given the opportunity to represent your country on the biggest stage at the Olympics. However, there has been a recent debate that raises the question of what is more important. Is it winning a gold medal in the Olympics or is it winning a championship in the NBA?

A few days ago, Carmelo Anthony went on his podcast "7 pm in Brooklyn" and shared his thoughts on which side is more important to him.

Anthony's Opinion

While it may not be the popular opinion, I can see where Melo is coming from when he states that he wouldn't trade in any of his three gold medals for an NBA championship. He made some interesting points that fans don't factor in when they watch their favorite athletes compete for the top prize.

Anthony made it very evident that it is not as simple as just going out there game after game to play the sport that he loves so dearly. There is always a deeper meaning that goes into the Olympics behind the scenes.

One major thing is the protests that take place because people want to use this outlet to make their voices heard. These kinds of outside factors can take a toll on an athlete's mental health and can alter their decision on whether or not they really want to be a part of the competition at all.

Melo even stated that he had people calling and having real conversations telling him to not f**k this up. This is especially important to highlight because it focuses on the fact that any participant who is on Team USA has a massive target on their backs.

Team USA always is expected to walk away from the competition with the gold medal and anything less than that is considered a failure. There is always a tremendous amount of pressure and stress that goes into playing in the Olympics which is something that doesn't get talked about much when it comes to this debate.

So at the end of the day, it may be easy for Anthony to say all of these things considering he has nothing else to compare it to but he does make a pretty good argument.