Kevin Durant enters the 2024 Paris Olympics as the most decorated member of Team USA . KD and LeBron James will be making their fourth appearance at the Olympics. His three gold medal haul in the games is the most among its current team members.
Looking back at his history playing for the flag in the Olympics, Team USA's all-time leading scorer thinks that the 2024 Dream Team is the deepest team he's played on.
"It is definitely the deepest team I've played on since I've been with USAB," said KD during an interview with Yahoo's Vincent Goodwill. "From top to bottom, everybody is the guy on their team. "
The More star-studded team
Durant was the team captain of the last U.S. Olympic Dream Team. That team lost to France in their 2021 Olympic opener but came on strong and got its revenge over the Frenchmen in the gold medal game. But after last year's U.S. men's basketball team to the FIBA World Cup three times and finished just in fourth place, USAB had to enlist the best team possible for Paris.
Aside from Durant, USAB is also returning Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, and Jayson Tatum for a second straight Olympics. But with guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis, the 2024 U.S. men's basketball team is definitely the more star-studded team than its immediate predecessor.
"I mean, the last Olympics we had a couple of younger, you know, role players in the league that grinded their way up in camp and got that opportunity, which was cool, but they wasn't like the best players on it. Like these guys are Hall of Famers, all-stars, you know, so I'm excited about this," added Durant.
Related: "Talk about changing the entire dynamics of your franchise" - Charles Barkley commends the Warriors and Nuggets for keeping their stars
The best American players available
That 2021 team had role players Keldon Johnson and Javale McGee stepping in for Brad Beal and Kevin Love. But even if you had the original members, the 2024 Dream Team still pales in terms of star power and depth.
When Durant played for the Rio Olympics in 2016, his team also had players like Deandre Jordan, Draymond Green, and Kyle Lowry, who, while former all-stars, were more role players when they made the team. In 2012, KD also played with guys like Andre Iguodala, Tyson Chandler, and Deron Williams, who, while All-Stars and DPOY that year, weren't really the best players that USAB could send.
However, after the close call in 2021 and last year's debacle, USAB isn't taking any chances for the 2024 Paris Olympics. They are sending arguably the best team - at least on paper, possible. It may not be better than the original Dream Team. Still, it's definitely the deepest among the four teams Durant has played for.
Related: Anthony Edwards on playing alongside LeBron, Steph, KD, and Tatum for Team USA: "I'm still the number one option"
Most Popular
Comments / 0