The second act of Kevin Durant’s NBA career has been a disappointment.
He was a hero in Oklahoma City and a champion with Golden State, but a general disappointment elsewhere.
Following Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn was a legacy tainter.
But Durant has another advantage in the basketball world: his emphasis on the “world.”
“I’ve always felt that Kevin Durant is the greatest international player of all time,” former U.S. national team assistant and longtime Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim told The Post.
Boeheim picked Durant specifically because logic would have it that he would favor Carmelo Anthony, the main player on the USA team that led Syracuse to its only NCAA title in 2002.
But Durant, who set the U.S. Olympic scoring record for men and women combined on Tuesday, is a perfect fit for the international game because she can’t be double-teamed on the U.S. team and is unstoppable one-on-one.
“Carmelo’s right up there. Kevin just dominates these guys,” said Boeheim, who won Olympic gold medals as an assistant coach in 2008, 2012 and 2016. “He’s 7 feet tall. I remember a game where he made three or four shots in a row from long distance, and other coaches just threw their hands up in the air and said, ‘What do we do?'” [James]”You can try to protect him. You can leave him out there and hope he doesn’t do anything. But Kevin, there’s nothing he can do.”
Even though Durant is approaching 36 and has been unable to participate in pre-tournament practices due to a calf injury, he is shooting 60% from the field, 62.5% from three-point range and 93% from the free throw line, ranking second on Team USA in scoring.
With two more wins, including Wednesday’s semifinal against Serbia, Durant can pass Carmelo as the only four-time Olympic champion in men’s basketball.
“He’s Captain America status,” U.S. Team Guard Devin Booker told NBC. “All we need to do is get him a fourth gold medal.”
2024 Paris Olympics
In the NBA, Durant has been largely forgotten in the GOAT discussion.
Durant hasn’t finished higher than seventh in MVP voting since 2018 and hasn’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs since 2019. It’s the first time in three years that Durant has won a postseason series.
But he and LeBron in particular have turned back the clock in these Olympics.
The U.S. team had a 17.5-point advantage over Serbia, which featured center Nikola Jokic, but lost to the U.S. by 24 points in the group stage.
In their July 28 matchup, the Americans, boasting a frontcourt rotation of Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo, did enough to limit Jokic to his least efficient game.
The Serb was no match for Durant, who came off the bench and scored 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting in 17 minutes.
And on Tuesday, he broke Lisa Leslie’s all-time U.S. national team scoring record. While Durant’s NBA exploits have stalled, his international exploits are still soaring.
“He won the final in Rio. [in 2016 coincidentally against Serbia, when Durant had 30 points compared to Jokic’s six]”He did a great job in London,” Boeheim said. [in 2012]He’s a phenomenal international player.”
