Curry, LeBron and Durant cement legacies and paint them gold at the Paris Olympics

We, the fans, will always have Paris.

This was an Olympics to remember for basketball fans and USA Basketball, as a generation of all-time great players came together to have fun, encourage each other and win gold. They did just that, defeating France in dramatic fashion on Saturday.

For fans, it was an opportunity to savor the last time they watched these greats on the international stage. It was a chance to see them at their peak and working together in a way we rarely see (certainly not in the All-Star Game).

For the players, it was an opportunity to paint their legacies in gold.

That starts with Stephen Curry.

Even if he had stayed home this summer and worked on his golf handicap, Curry would have headlined the Hall of Fame as the greatest shooter who ever lived. However, he would have entered the Hall with a gap in his resume, without a gold medal. So this summer he went to Paris and in the medal round he painted that legacy in shining gold.

Curry scored 60 points and made 17 3-pointers in the last two games of the Paris Olympics, and the U.S. won the gold medal because of it.

His was just one of the legacies added in Paris.

Kevin Durant came and made history. First, he surpassed Lisa Leslie to become the all-time leading scorer in USA Basketball Olympic history. Additionally, he now has four gold medals – the most of any Olympic men’s basketball player ever.

Durant is a pure shooter; he just loves basketball. He wants to be pushed, challenged, and playing for USA Basketball gives him that (especially in practice), so he kept coming back (he wouldn’t rule out a return in 2028).

Durant should be remembered as the greatest FIBA ​​player of all time.

LeBron James already had gold on his resume – a resume that already puts him in the GOAT conversation. Still, he came to Paris at age 39 and was the tone-setter and MVP for Team USA during the Paris Olympics.

LeBron finished the Olympics leading the USA with 14.2 points, 8.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game – he was the Olympics MVP.

Jrue Holiday joined Scottie Pippen as the only players to win an NBA title and then an Olympic gold medal in the same year – twice. Holiday struck gold in Tokyo after winning an NBA title with Milwaukee, and now the Celtics guard has done it again.

Team USA will be loaded with talent again in four years when the Olympics come to Los Angeles, but it will be different. It will be a younger generation looking to make their mark on the international stage – and will most likely have to overcome Victor Wembanyama and France again to do so.

But that’s in the future.

The Paris Olympics allowed us to enjoy the glorious final run of one of the greatest generations of basketball players. Call this final run, your final years whatever you want…

But you’d better call them golden.