Move over, Michael Jordan and the rest of the Dream Team. Move over, Carmelo Anthony. And even move over, LeBron James, the men’s basketball MVP of the 2024 Olympics.
With Team USA’s gold medal win over France on Saturday, Kevin Durant can now claim the title of USA Basketball’s greatest Olympian. And no matter how polarizing he may be for some fans, this is a major part of his legacy that requires respect.
While some often criticize Durant for joining an already championship-proven Warriors team, arguing he took an easy path to titles, or are annoyed by his social media wars with fans, his Olympic legacy shows a side of him that just wants to hoop and represent his country. And it’s a side we should appreciate.
Durant now has four gold medals from four Olympics, while James tied his friend Anthony for third place with three gold medals and four medals total. The Phoenix Suns star is now the person who has won the most basketball medals at the Olympics. The country with the second most gold medals, after the United States, is now second only to Durant in terms of number of medals won.
Durant is known as the Olympic GOAT (greatest of all time) because he not only won the most awards, but also played the best overall. Durant has scored the most points in the history of the Olympics for both men and women. His 518 points place him easily ahead of WNBA legend Lisa Leslie’s 488. James’ 358 and Anthony’s 336 points are behind Durant for the guys.
Durant scored 156 points at the London Olympics in 2012, 155 points in Rio in 2016, added another 124 points in Tokyo and then padded his record with 83 more this year even while dealing with an illness.
Even with less overall production at 35-years-old in Paris, Durant’s Olympic career points-per-game average is still head and shoulders above the rest. The 14-time NBA All-Star owns an average of 18.5, significantly better than James’ 11.9 and Anthony’s 10.8.
He also holds the career lead in field goals made (173), field goals tried (326), 3-pointers (88) and free throws (82).
And just like in the NBA, Durant, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, has made a career of being at his best on the biggest stage and in the biggest games at the Olympics.
Looking back at Durant in the Olympic finals, he put up 30 points against Spain in 2012, another 30 against Serbia in 2016 and one point shy of 30 for the third time against France in 2020.
As for this year in Paris, Durant scored 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 54% from the field. He scored 15 points with four rebounds and four assists in the gold-medal win over France.
So even though where Durant stands among his fellow all-time greats in NBA history can be up for debate, there’s no way to deny his place as USA Basketball’s Olympic king.
It’s even possible Durant, who will be 39 when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics, isn’t finished carving out his foreign legacy. When asked if he plans to retire from Olympic completion or go for a fifth gold, Durant offered a simple “we’ll see” answer to ESPN’s Marc Spears.
