A slow start in the 2024 Paris Olympics could have been excused — or even expected — from Kevin Durant. Durant had missed a month of practice with Team USA with a calf injury, and didn’t play a second in the team’s unblemished tune-up slate. With the Americans starting their gold medal defense on Sunday against Nikola Jokic and Serbia, Durant was cleared to play and tabbed as a reserve off the bench. Anything he gave the U.S. should have been considered gravy after such a long layoff.
Kevin Durant is the ultimate cheat code for Team USA at the Olympics
USA Basketball doesn’t need Kevin Durant to be the man, and that’s why he’s unstoppable
Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Instead, Durant took over the game and turned in one of the better performances in men’s Olympic basketball history. USA Basketball beat Serbia, 110-84, behind a dazzling shot-making display from KD that saw him hit dagger after dagger all over the court.
Durant hit his first eight shots from the field and went a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range in an incredible 23-point effort in the win. He’s the type of nuclear off-ball shooter Team USA needed to look truly unbeatable, and it’s clear he didn’t miss a beat after the injury. Watch highlights from Durant’s performance here:
Durant has a case as the greatest men’s basketball player in Olympic history. He entered the Paris games with three gold medals to his name with Team USA in 2012, 2016, and 2021. No men’s basketball player has ever won four gold medals, and KD can be the first if the U.S. accomplishes what it’s favored to do.
Durant’s run in the Tokyo Olympics a few years ago certified his legend. He carried the USA to a gold medal almost by himself, leading the team in scoring (20.7 points per game) while being second in rebounds, assists, and blocks. In the process, Durant surpassed Carmelo Anthony as Team USA’s all-time leading scorer.
If the Tokyo Games secured Durant’s Olympic legacy, the Paris Games offer a reminder that he’s still at the top of his game. Durant is about to turn 36 years old before next season starts, but there’s always been a futuristic quality about his game: 6’11 with guard skills, unlimited range, and the ability to hit shots that no defender on Earth (expect for maybe Victor Wembanyama?) has a chance to contest.
Here’s Durant ripping a three over Jokic:
And here he is coming down and drilling another triple:
Durant is a great player in any situation, but this USA roster has the perfect infrastructure to get the best out of him. LeBron James is Team USA’s lead initiator on the ball. Stephen Curry can handle some creation duties too, but is mostly using his shooting gravity to open up space for everyone else. Add in a big man like Anthony Davis demanding attention in the paint, and it’s impossible to cover all of the United States’ weapons.
When the ball swings around the perimeter, the open man is often Durant. Good luck trying to stop him with one of the sweetest strokes in basketball history and an unprecedented bag of perimeter scoring moves for someone with his size.
The beauty of the U.S. men’s basketball roster is they don’t need Durant to be their singular superstar like last time in Tokyo. With LeBron and Steph and a ridiculously talented cast of players around them, KD can just be one of the guys. In that context, no one can stop him.
