Kevin Durant shuts down greatest basketball player conversation on social media after Team USA beat Nikola Jokic and Serbia at Paris Olympics.
Kevin Durant and Team USA defeated Nikola Jokic and Serbia at Paris Olympics (image via FIBA/USA Basketball/X)
Kevin Durant has been in the NBA for 17 seasons. He has seen his fair share of players, bad, good and great. In all these years, he has also seen the narrative changing as to who is the best player in the league. After Team USA’s semifinal win against Nikola Jokic and Serbia at the Paris Olympics, he witnessed another round of comments on social media regarding the same debate. But this time, he decided to set the record straight.
To all you nuggets fans, nobody gives a fuck who yall lames believe is the best player in the league, players got major respect for Jok, we don’t worship him like yall do but most are in awe of his brilliance. Trolling you cornballs for rooting against us is apart of the game.… https://t.co/JVwxSi0eJD
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 9, 2024
The 14-time All-Star took to his official X account after noticing some fans trolling him and his Team USA teammates. The fans questioned how the supposedly best basketball player in the world allowed the game to go down to the wire. Kevin Durant responded to one such COMMENT with the following:
To all you nuggets fans, nobody gives a f**k who yall lames believe is the best player in the league, players got major respect for Jok, we don’t worship him like yall do but most are in awe of his brilliance. Trolling you cornballs for rooting against us is apart of the game. Deal wit it.Kevin Durant wrote on X
He essentially told them that he and fellow NBA players respect Jokic. But that does not mean they worship him.
After all, he is a fellow competitor. The last thing a player with any degree of competitiveness will do is worship another player. They will respect those who play at an elite level, but they don’t respect those who do nothing but demand it.
Nikola Jokic has done enough to earn the respect of Kevin Durant and some of the best players in the world. Even several players from the past have given the Serbian superstar his due credit. Durant and his USA teammates did the same after their game.
Kevin Durant and Big 3 show Team USA is head and shoulders above the rest
They gave Nikola Jokic his respect. After all, he carried his team past the quarterfinals, and then gave a real scare to the mighty Team USA for a good 35 minutes of the game. But eventually, the American superstars prevailed on the backs of their Big 3 of Durant, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Stephen Curry struggled all throughout the first four games of the Paris Olympics. He was in the starting lineup every game but failed to shoot with his usual efficiency. But in the semifinals, he led all scorers with 36 points. Those points kept Team USA within touching distance of the Serbians.
Then in the last few minutes, a flurry of points from Curry, Durant and LeBron James helped Team USA book their ticket to the Paris Olympics gold medal game. Now they can cement their legacy as some of the greatest players in the history of basketball.