"KD should be illegal!!" - Manu Ginobili reacts to Kevin Durant's dominance of Serbia

Team USA 's quest to win a fifth straight Olympic gold medal and avenge its fourth-place finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup is off to a rousing start. Drawing Serbia for its tournament opener had some fans worried about the squad. However, a returning Kevin Durant helped it run to a 110-84 win.

The Phoenix Suns superstar played just 17 minutes off the bench but led all scorers with 23. More impressively, he went 8-for-9 from the field and sank all five long-distance shots. Manu Ginobili seemed to agree with many people's sentiment that Durant is a cheat code, implying that he should be disallowed from the Olympics.

KD owning the Serbs

There was a point on Sunday when the U.S. looked like it was in for a rough night, going down 10-2 to start the contest. The Serbians were still leading 19-14 when Durant was subbed in. It was all Stars and Stripes after that, as the three-time Olympic gold medalist took over. He made all eight of his shots in the first two quarters to steer his team to a 58-49 at halftime.

LeBron James said this was the best contest this iteration of Team USA has had so far, and Durant attributed it to how random the squad's offense was. Even so, it's evident that as long as the 14-time All-Star is available to suit up, opponents will find it troublesome to contain the international powerhouse's offense.

Manu's KD praise

While foes might dread facing the two-time NBA champ on the basketball court, fans like Ginobili look forward to watching him play. Perhaps the San Antonio Spurs legend is also thrilled that he doesn't have to take on Durant in competitive play again. After all, in the 48 times that they matched up in the league, KD won 28 and averaged 27.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

In addition, the former Sixth Man of the Year is probably thankful that Durant was only 16 and Team USA didn't have someone like him in the 2004 Olympics. That tournament saw Argentina defeat the Americans 89-81 in the semifinals, with Manu putting up a game-high 29 points on 9-for-13 shooting.

Argentina went on to clinch the gold medal after dominating Italy. As for the U.S., it settled for bronze that year, kickstarting a revamp of how USA Basketball selects its representatives in international competition. Consequently, it has come out on top of the past four Olympics, with Durant being a part of the previous three teams.

Related: "You can play just 10 minutes a game" - How Magic Johnson convinced Larry Bird and Michael Jordan to play in the 1992 Olympics