Kevin Durant receives game ball autographed by Team USA players after unique milestone in win over Brazil
Team USA forward Kevin Durant made history during their 2024 Paris Olympics quarterfinal game against Brazil on Tuesday, becoming the all-time leading scorer in Team USA's Olympic basketball history. To mark the special feat, his teammates celebrated "KD" by handing him the game ball with all their signatures on it.
The 14-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion achieved the feat late in the third quarter of their 122-87 victory over Brazil, setting up a clash against Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinals on Aug. 8.
Kevin Durant notched his sixth point, off a dunk, with 3:06 to go in the third to take his Olympic total to 489 points at that point, surpassing the previous record of 488 held by women's basketball legend Lisa Leslie.
Team USA members, including superstars LeBron James and Steph Curry, made sure he was feted accordingly, signing the game ball to mark the occasion.
Check out Kevin Durant holding the signed game ball below:
Durant and Leslie are two of five Team USA players who have scored at least 300 points on their Olympic tours of duty for their country. Third on the list is Diana Taurasi at 416, who still has a chance to improve on it as she is part of the women's squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Coming in at fourth is Carmelo Anthony (336), followed by James with 316 points entering Tuesday's game.
Durant made his Olympic debut in 2012 in London, helping the squad win the gold medal. He followed it up with two more gold medals in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo.
Notably, he could become the first men's basketball player at the Olympics to win four gold medals.
In the ongoing Games, Durant is averaging 14.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 20 minutes of play.
Kevin Durant continues his assault on all-time NBA scoring list
Just as he is making Olympic scoring history with Team USA, Kevin Durant is also moving up in the all-time scoring list in the NBA.
At the end of last season, Durant was in eighth place on the all-time scoring list with 28,924 points over the course of 17 seasons. He is second among active players, behind LeBron James, who is the all-time leader with 40,474 points.
Kevin Durant will look to catch up over the next few seasons with Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) at seventh and Dirk Nowitzki (31,560) at sixth.
Selected No. 2 overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics – who later on became the Oklahoma City Thunder – "KD" had stops with the Golden State Warriors, where he won back-to-back NBA titles in 2007 and 2008, Brooklyn Nets and now with the Phoenix Suns.