The enthralling clash between Team USA and Serbia in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics brought to the forefront some allegiance issues among fans. With Nikola Jokic playing a starring role for Serbia (and his biggest rival, Joel Embiid, playing for Team USA), fans of the Denver Nuggets were actively rooting for Serbia on social media despite living in the United States and being an American citizen. Kevin Durant poked fun at this behavior with his characteristically dry humor on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Durant, following Team USA's 95-91 comeback win over Serbia, caught wind of a post from X user @SwipaCam, who is a Denver sports analyst for Mile High Sports and is a co-host of the Locked On Nuggets podcast. In this post, the user was congratulating Serbia for pushing Team USA to the brink, even writing that the “whole country should be proud”. Durant then called him out for this with a short, yet straight to the point question.
“Where u from??” Durant wrote.
X user @SwipaCam is from America, but rooting for Nikola Jokic is simply part of who he is as a media personality who covers the Nuggets. But a quick browse through his X account shows that he is vociferous when it comes to defending Jokic from his detractors. He might be even searching Jokic's name and replying to posts criticizing the three-time MVP.
Nonetheless, it is very funny that Kevin Durant could find the time in his busy schedule to reply to this one specific post, and at 5:09 A.M. Paris time, no less. Durant loves himself some banter, as he has embraced the villain/anti-hero role that's been cast upon him over the past few years, and not even the powers of space and time can prevent him from roasting those he deems worthy of his time.
Kevin Durant serves as Team USA's stabilizing force
It was confusing when head coach Steve Kerr limited Kevin Durant's minutes in the first half of their tight matchup against Serbia. He played just around seven minutes in the first half as Team USA went down by as many as 17 points, which infuriated many given how game-changing Durant's presence on the court has been throughout the Olympics.
But in the end, Durant was on the court for Team USA when it mattered the most. Stephen Curry was already on a heater, and putting Durant alongside him gave USA Basketball two players that Serbia could not leave unattended at all times. Durant made a few clutch baskets, including a difficult midrange jumper at the top of the key over the outstretched arms of Filip Petrusev that gave them a 93-89 lead with only 34 seconds left in the contest.
Kevin Durant is only cementing his case as the greatest basketball player in the history of Team USA; earlier in the Olympics, he became the all-time leading scorer of the national team, men and women combined. Now, he only needs to win one more game to tally the fourth gold medal of his career.
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