Steve Kerr believes Kevin Durant is the greatest men’s Olympic player of all time and LeBron James agrees with that statement. Kerr stated Durant is the greatest men’s Olympic player of all time on Netflix’s Court of Gold documentary and James reacted to that take with a simple message on Instagram.
“Facts!”
Kerr was almost certainly talking purely from a basketball standpoint, as Michael Phelps’ achievements at the Olympics are unmatched. He won a ridiculous 23 gold medals and no one else, male or female, has won more than nine.
If we do just stick to basketball, Durant certainly has a case to be regarded as the greatest male Olympian. The 36-year-old won his fourth gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics to break a tie with Carmelo Anthony for the most by any man in basketball at the grand event.
Durant made his debut at the Olympics in 2012 and made history right away. He set a new Team USA scoring record with 156 total points at the event en route to winning his first gold medal. More golds followed in Rio 2016 and Toyko 2020, with Durant setting a new U.S. Olympic record in Japan by averaging 20.7 points per game.
Then in Paris, Durant averaged 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game, and made history by winning that fourth gold medal. He came into the tournament with a calf injury but managed to make his mark regardless.
Durant also surpassed Lisa Leslie and became Team USA’s all-time leading scorer in the Olympics in Paris. He now has 518 points to his name and is unlikely to be dislodged from the top spot for a very long time. In fact, the 15-time All-Star might end up adding to that tally.
Durant did not rule out the possibility of him playing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He’d be 39 years old then and while it might have seemed absurd at one point for a player of that age to take part, we did just see James do it.
LeBron is also one of the greatest men’s Olympic basketball players of all time. Like Durant, he has won four medals, with three of them being gold. James dropped the curtain on his international career in style by winning MVP at the Paris Olympics, as he averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game.
Getting back to Durant, he got rather emotional in this documentary. When discussing his latest triumph, Durant stated the game saved his life. It is incredible to see his love and passion for basketball and here’s hoping he can stick around for some more years. There is certainly gas left in the tank for that.
Durant is averaging 27.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game for the Phoenix Suns in 2024-25. While the Suns haven’t lived up to expectations, their superstar has played great as always and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for him. We’ll see Durant and the Suns in action next when they take on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday at 6 PM ET.
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