USA basketball players to live aboard a cruise ship at Olympic Games

The Silver Cloud, USA Basketball's home during the Rio Olympics.

By now you’ve surely heard about the shoddy accommodations in the athlete’s village in Rio. In what’s fast becoming an Olympic tradition, athletes are sharing their minor horror stories of broken sinks, bedframes on the verge of falling apart, and more.

And, as Australian Olympian and Dallas Mavericks centre Andrew Bogut taught us, even NBA stars aren’t exempt from the less-than-ideal living conditions:

Well, at least that’s the case for non-American NBA players. Because, you see, the U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s basketball teams have found a solution: They’re living on a cruise ship, the Silver Cloud, a 16-ton luxury vessel with room for 296 guests and 222 crew members. The ship is 514 long, has six passenger decks and when it’s not used to house high-profile athletes, a stay on board can cost upwards of $12,000.

Cruisecritic.com has the low-down on the hue situation aboard the good ship Silver Cloud, in case you were wondering:

The elegant ship exudes a faintly Italian-inspired design scheme, with a lot of muted peach hues, wooden furnishings and finishings that subtly tie together one public space to the next, continuing on into most of the guest suites.

According to this report from NPR, the International Olympic Committee were made aware of Team USA’s plans since February, and “the ship was retained by computer network giant Cisco, which sponsors both USA Basketball and the International Olympic Committee.”

It’s hardly the first time U.S. basketball players have lived outside the traditional athletes quarters. In fact, USA basketball teams haven’t stayed in athletes’ village since the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Heck, it’s not even their first time staying on a yacht. During the Athens Games in 2004 the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team lived aboard a ship. That team, which starred Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, and Tim Duncan, along with a trio of first-year NBA players, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and (current USA elder statesman) Carmelo Anthony, were a colossal disappointment, earning a bronze medal and failing to reach the finals.

Here’s hoping the cruise ship brings better luck this time around.

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