Kevin Durant etched his name in the annals of U.S. Olympic basketball history, stepping into a league of his own. During the Americans’ quarterfinal clash against Brazil on Tuesday, Durant surpassed Lisa Leslie to become the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. in Olympic competitions.
With a mid-range jumper at the 3:06 mark in the third quarter, Durant clinched his place in history, scoring his 489th Olympic point to surpass Leslie’s longstanding record, as reported by AP.
Leslie, a four-time gold medalist, set the bar high with 488 points across her Olympic career. Now, Durant eyes another unprecedented milestone: becoming the first male player to claim four Olympic gold medals, having already triumphed with Team USA in London, Rio, and Tokyo.
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“Training staffs, the work that we put in, just keeping my body ready and just staying in the gym, to be honest,” Durant said when asked last week what he attributes to his longevity.
Durant is already the NBA’s eighth all-time leading scorer with 28,924 points. Among active players, only LeBron James, with 40,474 points, sits ahead of him.
As Durant approached his Olympic scoring record, basketball legend Leslie acknowledged the feat on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Durant is likely to hold his Olympic scoring record for the foreseeable future. He’s one of just five U.S. players to score at least 300 points in Olympic competition, joining legends like Leslie, WNBA scoring leader Diana Taurasi, retired Carmelo Anthony, and James, who entered Tuesday’s game with 316 points in what is likely his final Olympic appearance.
“He’s one of the most efficient players that ever played this game,” U.S. teammate — and Phoenix Suns teammate — Devin Booker said of Durant.
Durant currently dominates U.S. Olympic basketball records, now standing as the career leader in rebounds for the men’s team.
He entered Tuesday’s game with 126 rebounds, having surpassed both Anthony and David Robinson during the group-stage finale against Puerto Rico. While Durant now leads the men, Leslie remains the undisputed rebounding queen in U.S. Olympic history, with an incredible 241 boards over 32 games.
