a) whether LeBron is a net positive defender now and going forward, and

b) if he's one of the five best players for the USA to use against a specific-matchup like this, considering the best way to beat a stacked and skilled big man team is to have a strong perimeter game and a tough defensive effort.

Bron, for as brilliant as he is at everything else, is an average perimeter shooter at best, and even if you think he's still capable of being a solid defender against elite offensive talent, he's still not one of the top, say, 15-20 defenders that the USA could include on a 5-man roster like this.

And I don't think Bron can guard Jokic. I just don't. I think the number of NBA players who could defend Jokic without help can be counted on... 2 or 3 fingers at most. And Bron's not one of those fingers. On the other end, yes, I don't think Jokic can guard Bron in space, but in the paint, Jokic could deal with Bron just fine, and no international team is going to have Jokic on the perimeter running switches anyway. They'll drop Jokic back and let Giannis and Embiid scramble around with their length to try to help Luka and Bojan in any PnR action.

Which is why I think the best options for Team USA will involve running a series of elite perimeter threats alongside someone like a healthy AD or Bam-- or maybe both-- because if they're going to pack in their defense to maximize their size and length (and protect Luka and Bojan from the inevitable blow-bys), then you have to be able to burn them over the top to force the international team to extend and create some space.