2024-08-12 00:50:03
Andscape at the Olympics is an ongoing series exploring the Black athletes and culture around the 2024 Paris Games.
PARIS – A gold medal-wearing LeBron James enjoyed a family outing during the last day of the 2024 Paris Olympics as he sat with his wife and daughter courtside for the women’s basketball gold medal game. Just one night earlier, the entire James family was in the house supporting the Los Angeles Lakers star forward and the USA Basketball men’s national team as they won an Olympic gold.
Looking back at what was likely James’ last Olympic experience, he made clear that family was his motivation.
“It means everything. It’s why I do it. I do it for my family,” James said after the American men defeated France 98-87 to win the gold medal on Saturday night. “My wife takes care of the business, man. She’s the best. Without her, I wouldn’t even be in this position to be able to do what I do and love the game. I love it. So, to have my wife and my two boys and my daughter here and the rest of my family here, it was everything.”
The four-time NBA champion’s trophy case also has everything needed when it comes to the NBA and the Olympics.
Jones won a bronze medal with USA Basketball during the 2004 Athens Olympics and gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games with the “Redeem Team,” 2012 in London and in Paris. The four-time NBA MVP scored 358 points over the course of four Olympics. At age 39, James averaged 14.2 points, 8.5 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals for the Americans. The 20-time NBA All-Star also received Olympic MVP honors over teammate Stephen Curry, San Antonio Spurs center, Victor Wembanyama, who played for France, and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, who played for Serbia.
“It’s an honor. I don’t know who the voting committee, or whatever the case may be, but super-humbled that they even voted for me,” James said. “But it came with us winning gold and that’s what’s more important for me. It’s pretty cool …
“It’s really a global game. Everybody in the world loves the game. You see obviously the last two games with us vs. Serbia, us vs. France. But seeing the competitive teams like Puerto Rico, South Sudan, making a push, Australia’s still pretty good, and so many more teams are going to continue to get better and better. Germany won the [FIBA] World Cup last year. It’s a basketball world and everybody loves the game. We just hope we continue to inspire people all over the world and we have great moments right here.”
Without James, the U.S. didn’t medal and finished an embarrassing fourth place in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. James committed to play for Team USA at the Olympics during the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. U.S. forward Kevin Durant said James played a major role in getting NBA stars from America to commit to USA Basketball and stay in communication via text. USA Basketball’s Olympic roster included commitments from 11 stars, James, Curry, Durant, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton and Bam Holiday. Derrick White also replaced Kawhi Leonard.
So, was Paris the best Olympics for James?
“It’s the best one because it’s the one that’s right now,” James said. “Obviously, with the Redeem Team we had to come back because we had a couple of years where we wasn’t playing to our capabilities. So, ’08 we had the Redeem Team come back and then in ’12 we played some good ball as well. We were able to win that in London.
“We didn’t like the way we played last summer, so we put together this team very fast. We had to come together in less than a month and it was good for us to be able to do that.”
The next Olympics will be in James’ backyard in Los Angeles in 2028. James will be 43 years old and perhaps retired from the NBA. So, would James consider returning to the next Olympics on American soil?
“No, I can’t see myself playing in LA. I also didn’t see myself playing in Paris. But four years from now, now I can’t see it,” James said.
