We fans will always keep Paris.
This was an unforgettable Olympics for basketball fans and USA Basketball, as a generation of the greatest players of all time came together to have fun, push each other and win gold. And they did, beating France in dramatic fashion on Saturday.
For fans, it was a chance to see these greats together one last time on an international stage. It was a chance to see them at their peak and work together in a way that we too rarely see (certainly not at the All-Star Game).
For the players, it was a chance to paint their legacy in gold.
It starts with Stephen Curry.
Even if he had stayed home this summer and worked on his golf handicap, Curry would have led the Hall of Fame as the greatest shooter who ever lived. But he would have entered the Hall with one hole in his resume: no gold medal. So he went to Paris this summer, and in the medal round, he painted that legacy in sparkling gold.
Curry scored 60 points and made 17 3-pointers in the final two games of the Paris Olympics, helping the US win the gold medal.
His legacy was just one of many that Paris produced.
Kevin Durant came and made history. First, he passed Lisa Leslie to become the all-time leading scorer in U.S. basketball history at the Olympics. He now has four gold medals — the most of any male Olympic basketball player ever.
Durant is a pure hooper; he just loves basketball. He wants to be pushed, to be challenged, and playing for USA Basketball gives him that (especially during practice), so he kept coming back (he wouldn’t rule out a return in 2028).
Durant should be remembered as the greatest FIBA ​​player ever.
LeBron James already had gold on his resume—a resume that has him in the GOAT discussion. Yet he came to Paris at age 39 and was the tone-setter and MVP of Team USA at the Paris Olympics.
LeBron finished the Olympics leading the US in scoring with 14.2 points, 8.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game, making him the MVP of the Olympics.
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 won 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 feel different. It will be a younger generation looking to make its mark on the international stage — and it will likely have to go through Victor Wembanyama and France again to do so.
But that is music of the future.
The Paris Olympics gave us the glorious final run of one of basketball’s greatest generations. Call this final run, their final years, whatever you want…
But feel free to call them golden.
