Five former basketball MaxPreps All-Americans to represent USA in Rio Olympics

Harrison Barnes, DeMarcus Cousins and Kyrie Irving among decorated high school stars headed to Brazil.

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Jul 3, 2016, 10:00pm
Video: High school highlights of United States Olympic team
See Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan in action during high school days.

The 2016 United States men's Olympic team is the first made up primarily of players who went to high school since MaxPreps began covering high school sports nationally in 2003.

Only Carmelo Anthony graduated from high school before that time. 'Melo spent his senior season at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) in 2001-02, leading the Warriors to a 32-1 record and No. 2 national ranking.

Five members of the Brazil-bound squad earned MaxPreps All-American honors.

Leading the way is Harrison Barnes, a two-time All-American selection who was named MaxPreps National Player of the Year in 2009-10.

The prized free agent led Ames (Iowa) to 53 wins in a row to close his high school career and averaged 26.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 3.0 assists as a senior.

DeMarcus Cousins was also a two-time All-American during his days at LeFlore (Mobile, Ala.) before heading off to Kentucky and ultimately ending up with the Sacramento Kings.

As a senior, Cousins led the Rattlers to a 29-3 record against one of the nation's toughest schedules. He averaged 24.6 points, 12.3 rebounds, 5.7 steals, 5.1 assists and 3.8 blocks per game.
Photos: Nick Koza and Louis Lopez
DeMar DeRozan was a phenom at Compton (Calif.), earning second team MaxPreps All-American honors in 2007-08. The Raptor guard poured in 29.2 points per game as a senior before winning the slam dunk contest at the McDonald's All-American Game.

Kevin Durant earned MaxPreps All-American honors in 2006 after putting up 23.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game as a senior at Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.).

Kyrie Irving appeared alongside Barnes on the 2009-10 team after posting 24.5 points and 6.5 assists per game for head coach Kevin Boyle at St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.).

Other members of the Olympic team include Jimmy Butler, who attended Tomball (Texas), Paul George of Knight (Palmdale, Calif.), Draymond Green of storied Saginaw (Mich.), DeAndre Jordan of Christian Life Center Academy (Houston, Texas), Kyle Lowry of now-defunct Cardinal Dougherty (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Klay Thompson of Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.).

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