‘Everything I imagined, and more’: Team USA’s gold medal game seals NBA stars’ legacies

PARIS — The Canadians might think this was their fault, but it was not.

Ditto for the Germans and Serbians.

When the previous version of Team USA fell short at the FIBA World Cup last summer, taking fourth behind all three of those countries in a finish that put America’s status as the global basketball leader in jeopardy yet again, the timing of the next day’s headline was quite curious.

LeBron James, as The Athletic reported just one day after the Canadians beat Team USA in the bronze medal game, was ready to commit for the Paris Olympics in 2024. And he was planning on bringing quite a few of his NBA superstar friends along with him.

The American hoops Avengers, featuring James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and so many more elites, were being formed.

But this marvelous collection of all-time greats, the one that survived Serbia in the semifinal and then won the program’s fifth consecutive gold medal by downing France 98-87 on Saturday night, was coming together regardless of what happened 11 months ago because, well, Father Time demanded it. James is 39. Curry is 36. Durant is 35. And all of them — somehow, someway — are still simply incredible at playing this game.

This chance to create late-career memories for the ages, with all of them setting aside the rivalries and relationship imperfections between them that might have existed in the past, was the kind of thing that all of them saw coming long before James reached for his Captain America shield.

“I knew (while playing for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2022-23) season,” said Durant, the Phoenix Suns star who had 16 points, four rebounds and four assists in the finale. “(Team USA managing director) Grant (Hill) and (coach) Steve (Kerr), they came to Brooklyn, and they tried to get me to play in the World Cup, so I knew how important it was for us to be there for 2024, and I kind of committed there.”

James would eventually put his red, white and blue recruiting helmet on and go to work sealing the deal.

“Last summer, ‘Bron started texting everybody, giving his input on who we all think should be on the team, and (asking) if everybody was playing,” said Durant, the former Warriors star who became the first player in the program’s celebrated history to win four Olympic gold medals. “When we start sending those (kinds of) texts out, I kind of knew we were all going to get together and that this was a special time.

“I knew Steph was going to play. He had never been on an Olympic team before. He had a World Championship but wanted the Olympic medal. So it was a no-brainer, especially when those two committed, and once the team was built, I kind of knew it was going to be special.”

Curry’s Olympic story was the polar opposite of Durant’s.

For all of the Golden State Warriors star’s NBA accomplishments — the four titles, two MVPs, all-time 3-point scoring lead and all the rest — his crowning achievements on the national team were gold medals won at the FIBA World Cup in 2010 (Turkey) and 2014 (Spain). Those are worthy of acclaim, to be sure, but the American viewpoint on international tournaments has always been that the Games matter more than all the rest. But after the Warriors won the title over Boston in 2022, Curry’s truth came out regarding the missing piece of his resume.

“In ’22, when we were on our way back from Boston, I made a joke (with Kerr) about how this is the only thing I hadn’t done, and pretty much softly committed there,” said Curry, who hit 17 of 26 3-pointers in Team USA’s final two games while scoring 36 and 24 points and being named to the all-tournament team along with James. “(Then) last September, watching the World Cup and understanding that this was something I hadn’t done. I felt healthy, and able to do it, so that would be something I would want to do. Same thing ‘K’ said. The texts started flying.”

Fast-forward to Saturday night, and it was the flags that were flying high for the Americans.

Yet though this singular moment was worthy of praise — especially considering the way Serbia had pushed them to the edge in the game before — the meaning of it all went so much deeper than that. One look at the courtside seats inside Bercy Arena offered a reminder of that truth.

As was the case in the semifinal, Team USA legend and former NBA star Carmelo Anthony spent the entire evening playing the part of the Americans’ No. 1 fan. He wore a red baseball cap, with “USA” emblazoned across the front, and was joined by the likes of Stephon Marbury, Scottie Pippen and, after the game, the Warriors’ Draymond Green. Not far away, one of his former Team USA teammates and fellow BFF of James, Dwyane Wade, was finishing his broadcasting duties while taking in all the action.

Anthony and Wade, lest anyone forget, were both a part of the 2004 Olympic team that settled for bronze and inspired a reckoning within the program. As they all learned the hard way with James back then, anything less than gold with this group earns a certain infamy.

But just like Anthony and Wade before him, James managed to rehabilitate his image on this stage by moving on to the next Olympics challenge. A gold medal in 2008 in Beijing. Another one in London in 2012. And then, last and certainly not the least, this memorable capper (14 points, 10 assists and six rebounds) that led to his tying Anthony for second place on the program’s all-time list in gold medals. James earned MVP honors for his Olympic run, as he averaged 14.2 points, 8.5 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.

So, James was asked, which one means the most to him?

“I mean, (this) is the best one because it’s the one that’s right now,” he said so diplomatically. “I mean, obviously the Redeem Team (in ’08) had a lot of — you know, we had to come back, because we had a couple years where we weren’t playing to our capability. So in ’08, we had the Redeem Team come back, and then in ’12 we played some good ball as well and were able to win that in London.”

The most beautiful part of it all, and the thing that seemed to validate the choice these players made to join forces, was that James couldn’t stop gushing about Curry and Durant at the end. Never mind they’d all had all those assorted issues in the past, from the Curry-James NBA Finals battles that sparked so much discussion about who was the league’s best player to the Durant debate that shared similar themes. They were here, at this late stage, to do something memorable together.

“Yeah, you just simply marvel, and it’s amazing,” James said when he was asked about Curry.

He was then asked about Durant.

“KD?” James said in response. “KD’s one of the all-time greats. It’s not even a question. I mean, you just look at his silhouette, look at his skill. He’s one of the best basketball players we’ve ever seen play the game of basketball.”

As James had acknowledged heading into the gold medal game, the reality of this stage of their careers is that you simply don’t know how many more times you’ll be able to play for something big. James’ Los Angeles Lakers fell in the first round of the NBA playoffs last season, as did Durant’s Suns. Curry’s Warriors, meanwhile, didn’t even qualify for the postseason after being eliminated by the Sacramento Kings in a Play-In game.

If they do nothing else on a basketball court from here, their legacies will be among the greatest to ever do it.

“It’s everything I imagined, and more,” Curry said. “The guys in that locker room, we all signed up for the mission to continue USA Basketball dominance. Obviously, I understand it’s gonna be a really tough task, with some great teams that we’re gonna have to face, and there’s a sense of relief at the end, but it’s more a sense of accomplishment, obviously, knowing what we were able to do.”

(Top photo: Amin Mohammad Jamali / Getty Images)