Over 13 years ago, in 2012, Kevin Durant made his first appearance in the Olympics and has since won a record-setting four gold medals at the event over the years. Durant recently appeared on the Pivot Podcast and spoke about his experience during the 2024 Paris Olympics last year.
One of the key takeaways from the Olympics, beyond the gold medal, was Durant solidifying his relationship with Anthony Edwards.
Edwards was just coming off a playoff run where his Timberwolves beat Durant and the Suns to eliminate them from the Playoffs. Despite that, Edwards looked at Durant like an elder brother and sought lessons from him during the Paris trip.
Durant even went as far as to say that Edwards reminded him of himself in 2012 when he was shadowing Kobe Bryant to learn more from him and get close to him.
“Man, it’s just like getting in a time machine, man. The way Ant acted towards me was sort of the way I acted towards Kobe back in 2012, where it’s just like a slight hint of competition cuz we played each other in the playoffs, but it’s always going to respect there and love there, you know what I’m saying?” explained Durant.
“And it’s just like me and Ant always found our way around each other on the bus, on the train, in the locker room, just talking life, talking hope, just anything random.”
“It just felt like he came up in kind of the same environments I came up in and he had to go through the same struggles as a trying to make it as I did, you know? So, we resonated on that level,” the Rockets superstar added.
“And most of the time, we didn’t even talk about what we went through or all of that stuff. It was just like the conversation we had was easy. So, it was fun.”
A 34-year-old Kobe Bryant guided Kevin Durant when he was starting in his Olympic journey. Now, over a decade later, Durant is the most accomplished male basketball player at the Olympics.
Therefore, Durant sees the 2024 experience as a similar ‘passing of the torch’ moment where he saw Edwards mirror the same curiosity as he did back in 2012 when he started his Olympics journey.
Edwards grew up envisioning a future where he’d beat the best players in the world like Durant himself. But still, Edwards grew up idolizing Durant to the point where he called him his favorite player of all time. Therefore, solidifying this relationship was not only significant for Durant but also for Edwards.
During his Olympic debut, Edwards averaged 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while shooting 53.8% from the three-point line in 16.3 minutes per game. In contrast, Durant averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while playing 26.5 minutes per night and shooting 52.3% from beyond the three-point line.
Therefore, Durant clearly played a bigger role in his Olympic debut than Edwards did in his. But considering that Edwards debuted in a unique circumstance where the veterans brought the ‘Avengers’ together, we anticipate seeing Edwards play a much larger role in the Olympics if he decides to participate going forward.
