LeBron James is 39 and has all however acknowledged that this shall be his closing Olympics. Kevin Durant is 35, Steph Curry 36. Collectively, they’re arguably the three defining gamers of a whole technology of American basketball. It appears like a small miracle that we received to see them compete on the identical group on the highest degree in any respect. And on Saturday, we’ll get to take action one final time, on the grandest attainable stage.
The dialog round USA basketball is sort of all the time targeted on the subsequent end result, the subsequent roster. That’s merely the way it goes with a group for whom successful is the expectation and dropping an existential tragedy; regardless of what number of trophies get fed to the beast, it’s by no means actually sufficient. And that’s all effectively and good: You’ll be able to’t produce one thing transcendent with out which means an ideal deal to an ideal many individuals, and because the saying goes, with nice energy comes nice accountability. But it surely additionally dangers sucking up all of the oxygen within the room, and we shouldn’t permit that to occur regardless of how issues shake out on Saturday.
James, Curry and Durant are singular skills, all nonetheless able to recapturing their peaks for stretches at a time, and it’s evident to anybody watching them play what it means to be an Olympian; one of many underrated thrills of the comeback in opposition to Serbia seeing the trio collectively elevate itself to a different degree, determined to scratch and claw and do no matter else was wanted to flee with a win. They’re the kinds of athletes we would like the generations that come after us to know, and the chances are good that after we do, this sport shall be on the tip of our tongues. We must always all strive and ensure to recollect the way it feels.