Kobe Bryant: Future International Basketball Competitions 'Not Going To Be Easy'

Kobe Bryant shared a stern warning to future USA basketball teams: "it's not going to be easy." The future Hall-of-Famer and Lakers legend bared that international play is getting better and competing against the world won't be a "cakewalk" anymore.

In a story posted by NBA.com, Bryant said that the days of "automatic gold medals for the U.S. might be over" regardless of "who is on the roster." He added that the reign of American basketball is gone, referring to the 1992 Barcelona Dream Team that took the world by surprise.

He believes that "it's not a matter of the rest of the world catching up to the US... the world has been caught up for quite some time." The former 2008 Olympic Gold medalist bared that Team USA is "going to win some and to lose some."

The challenge for the next team, according to the "Black Mamba" is adapting to international play. The current USA squad is not overly star-powered but is made up of solid role players and up-and-coming studs like Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum.

The American's were recently eliminated by France and then lost against Serbia in the consolation round. Despite winning their first five games, Team USA clearly struggled against seasoned teams and they lack the coherence and confidence of the U.S.' past lineups.

The US squad will wrap up its World cup schedule against Poland on Saturday. The next international championship will be the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where Team USA will seek their fourth consecutive gold medal.

Hopefully, some NBA stars will represent their country. Draymond Green has already publicly declared that he's willing to play for the national team next summer.

Bryant played as a member of the 2008 redeem team, together with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh. The team that year was also led by veteran point guard Jason Kidd and beat Spain 118-107 to earn the gold medal.

Kobe said that "that was a hell of a team we had." The days of domination are long gone for Team USA. Hopefully, they'll be able to redeem their stakes next year.