The 2004 Olympics was one of the biggest embarrassments in Team USA's otherwise golden history. From 1992 to 2016, the team has won the gold medal in six out of seven chances. The lone bronze came in 2004.
To avenge the loss in Greece, the United States sent a group of it's best players to Beijing in 2008. Names like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul made up the squad deemed the “Redeem Team”.
But there was one notable absence. A young Kevin Durant failed to make the cut, and it irks him to this day. Durant claimed that he felt he had played well enough to earn a spot, and it hurt to watch his fellow players bond and do their country proud while he was forced to sit on the sideline:
“I was disappointed not making the [2008] Olympic team. I felt I played my way onto the team. Nobody really expected me to play that well in the practices, but I was 19 and I felt like I got snubbed. I felt disrespected, and I was like, “Nah, this can't go down like that. It's not happening again.” I was just so upset that I wasn't part of the Redeem Team. You could tell those guys had so much fun playing with each other and I wanted that even if I was on the bench. I just wanted to learn, soak that energy up from those guys.”
Durant made sure it did not happen again in 2012 and was a member of the team when it took home gold in London. While he might have missed out on the experience of bringing the U.S. basketball back from its loss, he is still a two time gold medal winner and regarded as one of the best players in the league.
Who knows? He might make it three in 2020 when the Olympics shift to Tokyo.
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