Short answers, pulled from the story.
FIBA voted 56 to 13 on the 7th of April 1989 to change international basketball rules and allow professionals from leagues like the NBA to compete. This decision ended restrictions that limited American teams to amateurs from colleges or AAU clubs before the vote.
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler, Christian Laettner, Shaquille O'Neal, and Isiah Thomas were among the early selections. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird completed the first ten names after Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen joined John Stockton and Karl Malone as early picks.
The squad stayed at Barcelona's Hotel Ambassador because security concerns and short beds made the Olympic Village unsuitable for tall players. USA Basketball occupied 80 of the hotel's 98 rooms while fans gathered outside hoping to see their favorite players.
Opposing teams lost by an average of 43.8 points per game during the tournament which marked the second largest margin in Olympic history behind the 1956 US Men's Basketball Team. The closest match was a 117 to 85 victory over Croatia in the gold medal game.
The team entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 following its election to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2009. It was also elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017 with 11 of the 12 players on the roster individually inducted as of 2014.