Kevin Durant gets co-sign of Coach K for being ‘greatest Olympics basketball player ever’

Kevin Durant was the stand-out performer against Team Serbia in his side's first Olympic matchup.

Kevin Durant gets co-sign of Coach K for being ‘greatest Olympics basketball player ever’

Coach K and Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant has been one of the most consistent players for his nation, Team USA, especially at the Olympics. Durant has won 3 Gold medals and is on the road to creating history if Team USA wins Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Interestingly, renowned Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) also recently shared his views on Durant’s “longevity in the sport.”

If Team USA captures the gold in men’s basketball in Paris in 2024, Durant will create history by earning his fourth gold medal and going on to become the most decorated Olympic basketball player of all time. Mike Krzyzewski, a Duke icon and former coach of Team USA, believes that Durant may be the greatest Olympic basketball star of all time.

In an interview with Jim Rome when asked about Durant being the greatest Olympic basketball player of all time, Coach K said:

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I think he is because of longevity and accomplishment. It's unique, but the amount of points he's scored, he's scored a lot more than anyone else. When he scored in Istanbul in 2010, he averaged 33 points a game in the medal round. Obviously, in London, he was a part of a huge team that we had with LeBron and Kobe. In 2016,  Rio, he was by far the best scorer and really led us to the Gold medal.
Coach K to Jim Rome

Interestingly, after scoring 14 points (2-5 FG, 2-2 3PT, 8-9 FT) against South Sudan, Durant passed Drazen Petrovic (Yugoslavia) to take the ninth-best spot all-time in the Olympic scoring standings as per reports. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Durant passed previous scoring leader Carmelo Anthony with 472 points, the most points scored by an American player in the history of the Olympics.

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Kevin Durant on verge of creating Olympic history as a basketball player

Kevin Durant wants to smash all previous records and win a fourth Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball at the Olympics. With already having 3 Gold medals before the Olympics in Paris, he and Carmelo Anthony share the record. Durant, 35, a forward for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, has served as a cornerstone of Team USA’s men’s basketball team for each of the previous Olympics—2012, 2016, and 2020.

If Durant and his Olympic teammate LeBron James win any medals in these Games, they will tie for the record for the highest number of men’s basketball Olympic medals total with four. It will be interesting to watch how Durant and Co. perform in the 2024 Paris Olympics as they have already gone 2 wins out of 2 lately.

Durant seems to be a formidable Olympic player for Team USA. He was named the MVP in Tokyo, in which he led Team USA with 20.7 points per game. Durant also has the two milestones for the most points total an American has scored in an Olympics, with 156 and 155. With 435 points scored in his career, he holds the men’s basketball record in Olympic events.

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