THE DREAM TEAM’S $290M MAN WORTH HIS WEIGHT IN OLYMPIC GOLD
FUELLED by a supposed army of critics who’d jumped off the Team USA bandwagon, Kevin Durant celebrated a monstrous new NBA deal to win a third Olympic gold by exacting revenge on France.
Durant’s 29 points led all scorers and add to his gold medal game legacy, which follow 30-point games in the final games in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 – in fact, three of the five best gold-medal game performances in Olympic history are owned by Durant.
But he saved his best performance for Instagram followers who were given a sneak peak at the superstar’s thoughts moments before he arrived at the official press conference – saying the win was for “everybody who said we’d take the L (loss)”.
“They had some power rankings out… they had us fourth, behind Slovenia… talking like they’re catching up to us… are you serious? This skill is unmatched,” Durant said before teammate Draymond Green took aim at NBA champion turned commentator Kendrick Perkins.
“Kendrick Perkins, you talk a lot of shit. Act like you American,” Green said.It was 35 seconds of unfiltered insight for anyone who doubts what gold medals mean to these mega stars – in Durant’s case, a third gold which puts him next to fellow American Carmelo Anthony as the only man to achieve that feat.
After being stunned by France in their Olympic opener, and critics emerged, Durant called a players-only team meeting – without the knowledge of coach Gregg Popovich – where the cards were laid out on the table.
Everyone had to buy in. Everyone had to be committed. And only gold was acceptable.
“It was amazing to see the clock run to zero and be able to celebrate on the court, in the dressing room,” Durant said.“A lot of people back home doubted us. It doesn’t matter, but you hear noise. We built a bond with each other that’s going to last a lifetime in my opinion.”
Durant was freakishly good on Saturday, starring as Team USA roared to a 87-82 victory which adds a 16th gold from 19 Olympic tournaments.
Even on a team of superstars, there has to be a big dog. And that’s Durant.
In an awkward start to the game, with France opening up a six-point lead, USA’s strategy was simple: give it to the best scorer on the planet.
A clunky half-court offence devolved into pinballing the basketball around until it fell into the hands of Durant. When he went to the bench with 90 seconds left in the first quarter he had 12 of the USA’s 18 points. The USA would not trail again for the rest of the game.
“We tried to make things really tough for him, make him work as hard as he can. But he’s Kevin Durant and you know he’s going to hit some shots that only he can hit,” said French star Rudy Gobert. “He’s the best scorer in basketball. He’s going to do what he does, especially on the biggest stage at an Olympic Games.
“We knew he was going to do his thing… and he did.”
Durant will this week put pen to paper on a four-year contract extension with the Brooklyn Nets that will bank him an extraordinary $AUD290m.
It’s an unfathomably large amount of money, though somehow still doesn’t put him as the league’s highest earner, and on Saturday he showed why Brooklyn is getting a bargain.
“This one feels good because we went through a lot,” Durant added.
“We had a lot of first-time guys on the team, new experience for everyone on the team, Covid, the kind of bubble we were in, no fans, no-one expecting us to lose.
“To fight through this adversity against a great team like these guys... to come together so fast -- it was beautiful to see, it was beautiful to be a part of.”