The two gray Volkswagen Multivans that pulled up to the Olympic Press Centre shortly before 11 a.m. could have been for anyone. VIPs here are usually chauffeured around in luxury Mercedes with blacked-out windows, flanked by police escorts with blaring sirens.
And yet here were Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, two of the biggest superstars in the sport, with combined contracts worth more than half a billion dollars. The understated vehicles were large enough to accommodate the limbs of a 6ft 10 basketball player, yet discreet enough to go unnoticed.
Swimmers and track athletes are the backbone of Team USA, but their spotlight doesn’t compare to that of NBA basketball players. The cameras were waiting for Durant and Curry in the La Rhone conference room, where all 336 seats were filled with media from around the world.
The organizing staff strategically placed bottles of Coca-Cola on the top table and the couple took their seats. “Grateful to be in Paris, one of my favorite cities in the world, thank you for inviting me,” Durant, 35, said, immediately getting the hosts on board.
Their performance on the microphone was as polished as you’d expect from two American icons. You don’t become king of the court without conviction, and they oozed confidence. “Who are you most looking forward to playing against?” a French reporter asked. “Whoever’s in the gold medal game,” Curry, wearing a sleeveless hoodie, replied with a grin.
Team USA Basketball stars Steph Curry (left) and Kevin Durant (right) face the media ahead of the Paris 2024 Games
The group of NBA stars will attempt to win their eighth gold medal in the last nine Olympic Games
The Americans have won seven golds in the last eight Olympics. They don’t need to bash their opponents – they’re already in their heads – and spend most of their 30-minute performance discussing off-field issues.
The race for the White House? Check it out. Curry previously endorsed Joe Biden for the White House and was asked yesterday for his opinion on Kamala Harris’ credentials for president.
“President Biden gave her that support. Vice President Harris is trying to put her energy into this campaign and hopefully, you know, she gets on the ticket and wins the election. She’s a huge supporter of ours and I want to give that energy back to her. Sports brings people together. For her, knowing what’s coming, it’s all about positive energy and optimism, knowing how divided our country is right now.”
The players have been following the election campaign on the road, travelling across Europe on an unbeaten five-match pre-season tour. They arrived in France on the Eurostar and Curry even gave his opinion on the journey from St Pancras. ‘I was watching YouTube videos about how the tunnel was built. The engineering, the history, completed in 1988. The tubes were connected for the first time and they passed the flags. It was pretty cool.’
Swimmers and athletes are the backbone of Team USA, but their spotlight doesn’t compare to that of the NBA basketball players
Their performance on the microphone was as polished as you would expect from American icons
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While most Olympians opted to stay in the athletes’ village, the basketball players checked into their own five-star hotel. With center Joel Embiid the tallest on their team of giants, at 7ft, most of them wouldn’t fit into the village’s cramped cardboard beds.
“I don’t think we had a choice,” said Durant, who was part of the team that stayed on a private cruise ship during Rio 2016. “Since I’ve been playing, we’ve always stayed in a hotel. We’ve hung out in the village for a few hours, but I haven’t had a bed since I’ve been doing all this!”
Beyond comfort, there’s also the issue of safety. Even at yesterday’s event for credentialed media, a reporter tripped while trying to intercept Curry for a photo at the exit. Asked how it feels to be the biggest stars here, Curry said, “I don’t know if we do. We don’t stay in the Olympic Village, and there’s obviously a reason for that. The NBA is a part of who we are, but it doesn’t make us any different than the next guy or gal to the left or right of us. We all have the same colors, the same outfits, the same letters on our chests. I lean into that energy, it keeps you grounded.”
Basketball legend LeBron James is also part of the American team competing for gold in Paris
They play their first game against Serbia on Sunday. They will be the heavy favorites, despite rumors that their players are past their prime. With his usual bravado, Curry shut down a podcast in which he questioned the influence of LeBron James with one sharp line. “There are too many podcasts out now,” he responded.
And Durant had his back. ‘There’s a podcast every hour. You can’t deal with everything that’s said about you. We’re all different as we get older. He doesn’t run and jump the same way he did when he was 25 or 26, but he still jumps pretty high and runs pretty fast.
“Obviously we’re older players and we’ve got some miles on our bodies, but we find ways to be effective. The thing about greatness is you adapt and find ways to stay effective.”
Old but gold, there is a sense of inevitability that the basketball award will only go to one place.
