LAS VEGAS — As much as Kevin Durant hates talking about his legacy, his golden play at the Tokyo Olympics made a pretty loud statement for him.
Durant is the greatest United States men’s basketball player in Olympic history.
Forget that cat with the shield: this was the real Captain America. And his star-spangled uniform was the red, white and blue flag that he draped over his shoulders after leading Team USA to a fourth straight gold medal with an 87-82 victory over France on Saturday in Saitama, Japan.
“Kevin Durant is exactly who we thought he was: One of the greatest players to ever play this game. One of the most special guys you’ve ever seen lace their shoes up and take a basketball court — at 7 feet, doing what he’s doing,” U.S. teammate Draymond Green gushed over Durant.
“That’s a special, special man. He carried his team like we needed him to, like he’s supposed to. Coming back for his third Olympics — all-time USA scorer. There has been a lot of great players to don his jersey. He’s No. 1. That’s a special thing.”
Much has been made of Durant and Green not always seeing eye-to-eye while together on the Warriors. But as they walked to the victorious Olympic press conference — one that frankly could’ve been a dour silver-medal showing, if not for Durant — they recorded an Instagram live video together chastising doubters who had ranked Team USA just fourth, behind even Slovenia.
After the show Durant put on, those old takes didn’t age well.
“A lot of people back home doubted us. A lot of people said it was going to be tough for us to win. And to be honest, they really don’t matter, but you hear the noise so much,” Durant admitted. “We came together and finished it off, which is the perfect ending for us. So, we’re looking forward to bringing this back home.”
Those doubters have now been duly silenced. As have those who questioned Durant’s international résumé, which is now utterly unassailable.
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“Kevin Durant has been one of the great players ever to play for USAB,” said outgoing Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo. “He’s very special.”
Special? As far as Team USA is concerned, Durant has been in a class of one. The biggest stars in the world either played with him and deferred, or played against him and got beat. That showed the gradations of greatness.
Durant is Team USA’s all-time leading Olympic scorer, surpassing Carmelo Anthony during the Tokyo Games. And he matched Anthony as the only man with three golds.
Considering Durant’s long season and injury history, it raises the question: Why?
“It’s just that brotherhood that we created that I enjoy being a part of, and the journey of just working everyday with these guys. It brings me a lot of joy. I really, really enjoy it,” Durant said.
“To build a camaraderie with the most talented guys in the world, to fight for your country, to represent my little section of the United States, my family, and everybody else doing the same. It’s special that we can come together for a common cause, because we battle against each other all year. We fight so hard to get this gold ball in the NBA, but for us to rise above that and become teammates and brothers for life against the rest of the world is just a huge, huge deal.”
After losing to LeBron James’ Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals, Durant went to the London Olympics and poured in 30 points in the gold-medal game. After falling in the Western Conference finals to Stephen Curry’s Warriors four years later, he went to Rio de Janeiro and dropped another 30 in the gold-medal game.
And still feeling the wounds of the Nets’ overtime loss to the Bucks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals this June, Durant committed to playing in the Tokyo Games. Once he got to Japan, he avenged the U.S.’s opening defeat to France by pouring in 29 points in the final.
It may have been his greatest victory yet. On the heels of a long season — one in which he returned from a ruptured Achilles and dealt with COVID-19 and injuries — Durant still looked like the best player on the planet.
“This skill is unmatched,” Durant said. “You dig?”
We dig.
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