The path Gregg Popovich’s United States men’s basketball team walked to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics has become well-worn. Three years ago, the U.S. dropped its first two exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia, raising concerns about whether this team could live up to the program's lofty gold standards. Once in Tokyo, the Americans dropped their opening group game to France.

However, the team’s chemistry started to come together around Kevin Durant in wins over Iran and the Czechia to close out the group stage, and the team advanced. In the knockout round, the U.S. beat Spain, Australia and then France. Once the Americans developed enough chemistry and became comfortable with the international rules, their talent won out.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for Team USA to win by following that path. The talent gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is shrinking fast, and the "we’ll figure it out" system seems doomed to eventual failure.

Which is why the Paris Olympics are different.

Sure, the U.S. roster is overflowing with elite talent, but the team’s secret weapon is that everyone on the roster has played internationally before. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker and Jrue Holiday all have gold medals hanging in their homes. Some, like Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid, have competed in other international events. These guys are not learning on the fly like past American squads — they know how to play FIBA basketball.

"Yeah, it helps for sure," Davis told NBC Sports about experience with international play. "Like I say, a lot of guys on this team have done it [played FIBA]. Even the younger guys. Ant [Anthony Edwards] did it last year. Bam [Adebayo] has one [gold medal] and has done it before, and pretty much everybody on the team.”

That experience has shown through the team's exhibition games, where they opened by beating three medal-contending teams — Canada, Australia and Serbia — fairly comfortably. For the veterans, readjusting to the international rules looked like riding a bike.

Part of what the U.S. has to adjust to is still ahead of them: the tight timetable for the group stages, then the single-elimination knockout rounds in Paris.

"It's not like the NBA where you can smoke three games in playoff series and still win,” said U.S. point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who played in the World Cup a year ago. “It doesn't happen in this — it's one game, it's 40 minutes. The game is officiated differently and played differently. I think having that experience really helped me."

A lot of little things are different with international basketball. Some of it is rules-based — the lane is narrower, the 3-point line is shorter, there is no defensive three seconds and there is no goaltending once the ball touches the rim — and some of it is that the officiating allows for much more physicality.

"There's only 75% as many possessions in a FIBA game, 40 minutes instead of 48, and it's more physical," U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. "I think the NBA stars are used to being able to go out there and find their rhythm over a 48-minute game. And there's just less time to do that in a FIBA game.”

Then there is the ball itself. FIBA insists the ball is the same weight and size as an NBA ball — a 29.5-inch circumference — although plenty of players from previous years have said it feels a little smaller. The leather on the ball feels different — it’s not as soft — and it has 12 panels instead of eight. It’s not a radical change, but it takes a little getting used to.

"There's been plenty of time since the season to get some reps in with it," Haliburton said, adding USA Basketball sent each of the players a few balls a couple of weeks before training camp opened. "And there is an adjustment, but like anything the more reps you get, the more comfortable you get."

All this adjusting Team USA has to do feels fair to Davis, who noted international players are coming over to the NBA and adapting to our game.

"We're playing basically to their rules," Davis said of the Olympics. "This is something that, when they're not playing the NBA, or before they were playing the NBA, [they played this way]. ... We're coming into their territory, but it's something that a lot of us have done before.”

And the fact they have done it before could mean smooth sailing for Team USA.