Team USA men’s basketball will play for its fifth straight Olympic gold medal when it faces France at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Americans barely squeaked by Serbia in the semifinal round after trailing by as many as 17 points and being down by 13 points to start the fourth quarter, and it will not be easy for it to win it all versus Victor Wembanyama and crew in their home country.
To combat that, Team USA is making a change to its starting lineup for the gold-medal game, inserting Kevin Durant and moving Jrue Holiday to the bench, according to NBA insider Shams Charania.
Team USA is planning to start all-time leading scorer Kevin Durant vs. France in Saturday’s Gold Medal game at the Paris Olympics, per sources. Jrue Holiday is expected to come off the USA bench. pic.twitter.com/UrYgyhyTUY
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 9, 2024
Holiday has provided Team USA with some point-of-attack defense, but Durant is one of the most dangerous scorers in basketball history, and thus one must surmise that head coach Steve Kerr is making this change to ensure his team gets off to a good start.
Just days ago, Durant became the United States’ all-time scoring leader in Olympic competition by surpassing women’s legend Lisa Leslie, and even at age 35, he can go off at a moment’s notice.
France, the host country for these Games, not only has Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, but it also boasts 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert, who was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Thus, Team USA not only needs offensive punch to start the championship game, but it will need to control its defensive backboard and up-tempo the game to prevent France from using its size to its advantage.
Durant had a quiet nine points against Serbia playing 24 minutes off the bench, and the United States may need more from him against France in order to win it all.
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