Top 5 scorers for Team USA Basketball in the Olympics in the 21st Century
USA's basketball program has one problem which other countries would be only too glad to have, an overcrowded talent pool. If they were to field three teams with balance, there is a good chance that they'd sweep all the medals.
As the Olympics brings together the best of the talent from across the league, the players find themselves playing severely reduced minutes compared to what they are accustomed to. On one hand, the games are 8 minutes shorter compared to the NBA. On the other hand, there is too much talent to play anyone over 30 minutes.
Playing 29 minutes in international competition is the equivalent of playing 35 minutes in a 48 minute NBA match. No one has ever averaged over 20 points per game in the Olympics for the USA. This makes the top scorer’s list seem paltry, but it is anything but.
Even the 1992 Dream Team saw Charles Barkley leading the way with 18 points per game while Michael Jordan averaged 14.9 per contest.
That being said, there have been some consistent performers for Team USA recently. Here is a look at the top scorers for Team USA in the 21st century, spanning 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
5. Kevin Durant - 156 points (2012)
Kevin Durant is just 27 years old, and he has the highest per game scoring average for Team USA for any single Olympic tournament with 19.5 points per game. He narrowly edges out Adrian Dantley who averaged 19.3 points in the 1976 Olympics.
Durant's combination of length, athleticism, shooting touch and ball handling make the prospect of stopping him a virtual impossibility. His game seems tailor-made for international competition. He's almost 7 feet tall, don't let his officially listed height fool you. For him, three-pointers are free throws, and he could average percentages of 50-40-90 from the field, beyond the arc and from the charity stripe in a hiccup.
The only reason Durant occupies the 5th position on this list is because he's only participated in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He's just scored 25 points in the opener of the 2016 Olympics against China. But even if that 25 was added to this total, the positioning wouldn't change. So Durant stays at number 5 for now.
Look for Durant to be USA's all-time leading scorer in the Olympics before his career is over.