"I'm like, 'Oh my God, we really rock stars now'"- Patrick Ewing on when the Dream Team realized it was world-famous

Yahoo

26-05-2025

In the summer of 1992, the world of basketball underwent a seismic shift. For the first time in Olympic history, professional NBA players were allowed to compete. The United States assembled a roster unlike anything the sport had ever seen.
Twelve men — legends in their own right — came together in Barcelona, Spain, forming what would later be hailed as the greatest team ever assembled: the Dream Team. It was a cultural phenomenon. And the moment the plane landed on European soil, Patrick Ewing understood the magnitude of what they had become.
Global stars
Even with all the accolades, the titles and the fame that came with playing in the NBA, there was still something humbling about seeing the scope of their appeal on the global stage.
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"We all knew we were great players, but you don't know how other people outside of this country think of you until you're actually living it," "Big Pat" said. "I remember the plane landing in Spain and you see thousands and thousands of people at the airport, lining, screaming. I'm like, 'Oh my God, we really rock stars now."
The Olympic rule change in 1989 paved the way, with FIBA voting to allow NBA players to participate starting in the 1992 Games. That cleared the path for America to send its absolute best. The result was a constellation of talent: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Ewing himself — men who had dominated on home soil and now were unleashed on the international stage.
That was hysteria. The kind reserved for royalty or the world's biggest rock bands. In the United States, they were household names. In Europe, they were mythical. That reception at the airport was only the beginning. Cameras tracked their every move.
Fans lined hotel entrances. Even opposing players asked for autographs before games. The Dream Team hadn't played a single minute, yet the world had already declared its devotion.
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Related: Isiah Thomas recalls his college recruitment: "My mom closed the briefcase and said, 'My son's not for sale"
Dream Team dominance
Once the games began, spectacle turned into annihilation. Team USA's average margin of victory was 43.8 points. No team came close. Angola lost by 68. Croatia lost by 33 in the final. Chuck Daly's men dismantled other teams and every game was a display of power and precision that set an entirely new standard for the game.
Ewing, who had already been to the Olympics once as a collegiate player in 1984, knew this experience was something else entirely. These weren't college kids hoping to earn minutes. These were established giants carving their names deeper into history.
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"It was a great experience and kicked a** and took names," Pat recalled.
The Hall of Fame center's tone was half celebratory, half reflective. The journey had been about basketball. It had been about global perception. These games marked the moment the NBA transitioned from being a dominant American league to a global empire.
In 1992, the NBA had just 23 international players from 18 countries. By the 2010s, that number had multiplied several times over. What the Dream Team did on the court was only half the story. What they did off court, how they inspired millions across continents, was the legacy that still echoes.
The legendary U.S. squad appeared on Time Magazine covers. Their merchandise outsold every other Olympic item. Jordan's sneakers became international currency. And in places like Lithuania, Argentina and China, young boys picked up basketballs with a new level of seriousness, dreaming of someday wearing the same jersey as their childhood heroes.
Related: Larry Bird admitted Dream Team's 1992 gold medal was too easy: "When you've been winning by 50 every night, it sort of takes something away"