For LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the 2024 Paris Olympics will almost certainly mark their final appearances at the Summer Games. But if you thought that would create a passing-of-the-torch situation in these Olympics, think again. LeBron and KD are still the two best players Team USA can put on the floor against the rest of an increasingly competitive basketball world, and when they’re on their game, it remains a breathtaking sight to behold. That was the case on Sunday.
James (21) and Durant (23) combined for 44 points on 17-of-22 shooting in Team USA’s statement 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams. Statement is the right word. Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic, entered the tournament as one of the bigger threats to upset, and perhaps unseat, the Americans in their quest for a fifth straight gold medal. Serbia got shot completely out of the gym.
It wasn’t just Durant and James. Devin Booker, who started alongside Jrue Holiday, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and James, drilled a couple early 3s and finished 4 of 5 from downtown. Holiday sunk four of his five 3-pointers. Curry (3 of 7) and Anthony Edwards (2 of 3) connected on 50% of their 3s. The Americans shot a collective 62% including 56% from 3.
You can talk about the smaller points of basketball all you want, but you’re not beating this U.S. team if they shoot like that. For Serbia, you’re surely not beating the Americans if you counter that kind of efficiency with your own 9-for-37 showing from 3. You probably need to catch the Americans on a somewhat off night and make them pay by getting hot yourself.
James and Durant made sure that didn’t happen in the opener. Frankly, it gets tiring marveling about the continued dominance of these two guys though an age-qualifying prism, as though we’re grading the performances on a curve. Like when we have to specify Paul George or prime Klay Thompson as a “two-way” superstar. It’s a not-so-subtle way of saying they’re not really superstars.
Forget that LeBron is 39 or that Durant is almost 36. Forget that between the two of them, they have 37 years of NBA experience. They could be 22 years old or 44. They’re the best players. Period. On this American team, where the collective talent diminishes, in some cases significantly, the importance of any single player, James and Durant remain the two most indispensable components.
Prior to the Olympics, I ranked the top 30 players in Paris in order of their importance to their teams and the overall value they bring to this particular competition. I slotted LeBron as the most important American, with his offensive orchestration and freight-train transition force standing out as two of the least replicable skills on the roster. Durant came in lower at No. 17 overall, but that was only because his status for this opening game, and perhaps even beyond, was in question. He didn’t play during the exhibition schedule as he was recovering from a calf injury.
But Durant’s disproportionate value to the team once he was one the floor was never in question. Even on a roster with so much scoring talent, Durant’s ability to make any shot at any time against any matchup is the Americans’ most reliable source of offense.
We saw it on Sunday. Durant didn’t start, and the Serbians got out to a quick lead. He entered the game late in the first quarter and immediately cashed two 3-pointers in two minutes, and the Americans went from down six when he subbed in to up five at the end of the first quarter.
Some players might need a game to get their sea legs back after an extended time off. Not Durant. He came out smoking and simply never cooled off.
Meanwhile, LeBron added nine assists and eight rebounds to go with his 21 points. He remains an almost unstoppable force when he puts his head down.
James and Durant didn’t miss in the first half. They hit all 13 of their shots for 33 combined points. While the new wave of stateside superstars prepare for the inevitable and perhaps already-underway NBA dethronement of these two legends, that process hasn’t even started to happen for the national team.
Jayson Tatum just won a championship with the Boston Celtics and he didn’t even play on Sunday. Booker is at least relatively close to being Durant’s equal as teammates on the Phoenix Suns, but in the context of international play, where Durant, as the Americans’ all-time leading scorer, has long been a cheat code with the shorter 3-point line, the hierarchal gap remains vast. It’s LeBron, KD, and everyone else. On Sunday, that couldn’t have been more clear.
