I’ve long thought that Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony have the deepest and most meaningful USA Basketball resumes of all time. No, neither played on the Dream Team, which will always be the greatest U.S. basketball team of all time, and don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise. But they have both played for USAB for a long time, longer than anyone from that celebrated group. And they’ve both been outstanding for most of their stints. You can clap back that ’Melo was on that star-crossed 2004 Olympic team that lost to Argentina in the semifinals, and wound up winning the bronze medal. True. But then he helped lead Team USA to three straight golds in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

As the 2024 Summer Games kick off for the U.S. men’s team, though, Durant’s at the top of the heap.

KD hadn’t played a second in the warmups for this year’s Olympics, and he comes out of the wings to drop 23 in the opening-round game against Serbia. It only adds to his list of great moments for USAB over the last 14 years of World Cups and/or Olympics. I still believe his play in the 2010 World Cup in Istanbul, at 21 years old, when he averaged 22.8 per game for the U.S. team – including 28 in the gold medal-winning game over the host nation, Turkey, and was named tournament MVP – was the best individual performance in a world championship in U.S. history. But today’s effort, at age 35, is pretty damn special, too. He’s going for his fourth gold medal. He’s never said no when his country called. And he’s always played great.