2024-08-07 10:35:02
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Kevin Durant is officially the highest-scoring player in U.S. Olympic basketball history.
Durant surpassed Lisa Leslie’s 488 career Olympic points during Tuesday’s 2024 Paris Olympics quarterfinal against Brazil to become USA Basketball’s all-time leading Olympic scorer.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
KD (489) now has the MOST PTS EVER, men’s & women’s, for Team USA 🇺🇸🐐 pic.twitter.com/316XMhzzq3
Durant is participating in his fourth Olympics. He won gold with Team USA at the 2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021.
Durant led the USA in points in two of those Olympic appearances, pacing his teams with 156 points in London and 155 points in Rio de Janeiro.
Leslie recorded 488 points for Team USA in four Olympics as she helped lead the American women to gold at the 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games.
The former WNBA legend called Durant one of her “all time favorites” ahead of the new record.
Lisa Leslie @LisaLeslie
Well let me start to congradulate @KDTrey5 as he gets ready to break one of my
Olympic records! The Slim Reaper!! One of my all time favorites! https://t.co/pdKr2SUz3a
Durant, who recorded 435 points in the first 22 games of his Olympic career, entered the Paris Games more than 50 points behind Leslie’s record.
Embracing his new role as the sixth man for Team USA, Durant put up 23 points in the Olympic opener against Serbia, then totaled 25 in the next two group-stage outings.
He then passed the milestone in the knockout round against Brazil, reaching six points in the game with a dunk in the third quarter.
The American Olympic scoring record isn’t the only standard Durant is on pace to set this summer. Durant is looking to become the first men’s basketball player in Olympic history to collect four gold medals with a championship victory in Paris.
Durant is currently ranked No. 2 among all active NBA players with 28,924 points in the league, second only to USA teammate LeBron James.
James, who in March became the first player in NBA history to surpass 40,000 career points, entered the 2024 Paris Games as the third most prolific Olympic American scorer of all time behind Durant and Leslie.
