... and replacing American in top basketball team? (4)
I believe the answer is:
five
'basketball team?' is the definition.
('five' can be a synonym of 'basketball team')
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for five that I've seen before include "Quintet" , "Fourth part of score" , "Prime number" , "Odd number" , "Cardinal" .)