"You are the gold standard of basketball": Kevin Durant responds to Lisa Leslie with wholesome praise
Kevin Durant lavished praise on former 4x Olympics gold medalist Lisa Leslie. The veteran forward responded to a congratulatory message from the LA Sparks icon after he became the all-time highest scorer in United States Olympic basketball history during Team USA's 122-87 win over Brazil on Tuesday. Durant surpassed Leslie's record of 488 career Olympic points.
And the 52-year-old took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate Durant, saying it was an honor having him break her record. In response, Durant tweeted back with a wholesome message.
"Records are meant to be broken, I’ll hold on to this until another great comes along and passes me up…Lisa Leslie you are the gold standard in basketball, I appreciate your love and support throughout the years..much love to you always…it’s all about the gold baby. Let’s get it fellas"
Durant came into the contest just six points shy of getting past Leslie's record. He finished with 11 points coming off the bench as Team USA advanced to the next round taking on Serbia in the semifinals.
Kevin Durant stresses on Olympics objective
After Team USA's win and Kevin Durant breaking the record for most points, the 2x NBA champion addressed the media and maintained that winning gold was the primary focus. Per ESPN's Brian Windhorst:
"Records are meant to be broken, so somebody will come along and do the same to me. My focus is on trying to win this gold."
A win on Thursday will propel Team USA to the final, giving them another shot at winning a gold ̦ their fifth in a row if they manage to clinch it. As for Durant, he helped lead the USA to Olympic golds at the 2012 London Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, and the 2020 Tokyo edition. He averaged a combined 20.6 points per game across those three Olympic tournaments.
Kevin Durant's achievement comes on the back of his availability which was in question leading up to the marquee event. He was rested for the showcase games as he worked through a calf injury and later cemented himself as a bonafide scorer for the side when the tournament got underway.
On the NBA front, Durant is the eighth scorer in NBA history with 28,924 points, the No. 2 on the active list behind only his team USA mate LeBron James who leads the pack with a dominant 40,474 points.