LeBron James, Kevin Durant Team Up for Flashy, Vintage Sequence in Gold Medal Game

Patrick Andres | Aug 12, 2024

Aug 8, 2024; Paris, France; United States guard LeBron James (6) celebrates with guard Kevin Durant (7) during the first half in a men's basketball semifinal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

If you wanted to sum up the last 15 years of life in the NBA, you could do worse than one scoring sequence during the United States's gold-medal showdown with France Saturday in the Summer Olympics.

French forward Guerschon Yabusele appeared to have a certain layup in sight as he drove into the paint with 7:32 left in the first quarter, his team leading 7–5. Instead, Yabusele found his shot redirected toward the backboard, blocked by American forward LeBron James.

United States guard Steph Curry found the rebound and passed the ball to guard Devin Booker; Booker then found forward Kevin Durant for a three-pointer to give the Americans the lead.

LEBRON REJECTION + KD TRIPLE. Gold medal game off to an ELECTRIC start. 👀#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/TfDTOwdzd0

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024

The sequence proved an effective mission statement for the United States, which built a 49–41 lead at halftime.

Durant and James entered the afternoon in search of their fourth and third gold medals, respectively (James also has a bronze medal from 2004 in Athens).