The 2024 USA men’s basketball team will go down as one of the greatest collection of players ever assembled, as it was one last ride for the three most dominant players of this generation — LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant — and the first time all three had played together.
The result was a gold medal winning run in the Olympics, despite getting strong challenges from Serbia and France in the semifinals and gold medal game, respectively. Each player had incredible moments during the run, from KD’s perfect first half in the group stage opener against Serbia to LeBron’s triple-double in the semis to Steph erupting for 60 points in the last two games. The three stars looked to be having an incredible time, understanding this was the only chance they’d get to do this together, and enjoyed taking a victory lap after winning gold.
For Durant, that meant going on a gold medal-caliber run of posting online, as being overseas did not mean he was about to log off. After winning gold, KD posted the team pic of everyone with their medals to Twitter with the caption “ENTERTAINMENT & IQ”, taking a not so subtle dig at German guard Dennis Schroder, who had said European basketball is “no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball.”
On a recent Twitch stream, Schroder addressed Durant’s post and decided to take a shot at the future Hall of Famer, saying it “tells me how weak he is as a person.”
“And then, they won, and Kevin Durant tweets “high IQ and entertainment.” For me, that’s just being weak,” Schroder says. “You have to say something to a person like me, who not even meant it to be negative. It’s just what I see from both sides. So, I didn’t appreciate it. I don’t care, but at the end of the day, that tweet or whatever he posted was because of me, and for me it was never no negative stuff. I respect all those guys, all GOATs, but to say that tells me how weak he is as a person. It is what it is, not everybody is strong, not everybody is in a good place.”
I must say, this is not the response of someone who doesn’t care. Clearly KD’s tweet struck a nerve, and while I understand Dennis having a 50 Cent “why he say f*** me for?” moment, I also think going the “he’s weak” route isn’t the best way to handle it. You could just note you didn’t mean your initial comments in a negative way and move on, but now he’s assured that KD will have a little something extra for him next year, both on the court and on social.
