LaVine wins gold with US
His next challenge: Winning with revamped Bulls team
Behind Kevin Durant’s 29 points, the U.S. men’s basketball team won its fourth consecutive gold medal with an 87-82 victory against France on Friday night in Saitama, Japan.
The victory offered some redemption for Team USA, which had dropped back-toback games against France in the Olympics opener in Tokyo and at the 2019 World Cup.
Bulls star Zach LaVine will bring home a gold medal, making him the fourth player in team history to do so, joining Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Jimmy Butler.
“We came here to accomplish a goal,” LaVine said during a video conference earlier in the week. “It’s not just about me, it’s about everybody that we’re trying to represent with those three letters across our chest. We didn’t come here for anything less than that gold medal.”
LaVine had his quietest performance of the Olympics in the gold medal game — five points on 2-of-3 shooting — but he became an essential and productive player in the team’s rotation. He made one start, coming off the bench in five of the six games. LaVine averaged
9.7 points, 3.3 assists while shooting over 60% and 45.5% from 3.
Perhaps most impressively was that on a team full of scorers, LaVine was willing to turn up his intensity and step up on defense. And the highlight-reel dunks he pulled off casually.
A gold medal is the latest accolade for LaVine coming off his breakout 2020-21 season. He made his first All-Star team in March and has been getting more recognition around the league.
At the start of the Olympics, LaVine pointed out (correctly) how Team USA was going to be the most talented team of his career. And it was his first chance to truly get a taste of winning. Since he was the No. 13 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, none of his teams in his career have ever gone on a four-game winning streak. Team USA winning five straight games to close out the Olympic tournament is uncharted territory.
LaVine is coming back to Chicago to play with the most talented roster in his seven seasons in the NBA. The Bulls added Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan to join LaVine and Nikola Vučević in the starting lineup.
The team used up its cap space to surround him with a better roster, which means they won’t be able to offer LaVine a contract extension close to his value this summer. He’s going to be the fourth-highest-paid player on his team this season in the final year of a four-year, $78 million deal. That sets him up to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and while he says he wants “his respect,” both he and the Bulls seem to be on the same page. The team is trying to win and LaVine has reiterated, often, that he wants to be a part of a winning team.
He got his chance this summer and should be in position to do so again this season.