German national men’s basketball team member and NBA player Dennis Schröder lashed out on Kevin Durant after the latter threw a diss at him after Team USA’s gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A former teammate of Olympic MVP LeBron James with the LA Lakers, Schröder posted a video on X as a response to KD over his previous take on why the European style of play was better than that of its American counterpart.
The German star said:
“For me, that is just being weak. That type of a star, and you have to say something to a person like me, who never meant it to be negative. Just what I see from both sides. I didn’t appreciate it. I don’t care. But at the end of the day, that tweet or whatever he posted was because of me. For me that was no negative stuff
Explore the NBA Draft 2024 with our free NBA Mock Draft Simulator & be the GM of your favorite NBA team.
“I respect all those guys, all GOATs. But to say that, shows me how weak he is as a person. But it is what it is. Not everybody is strong. Not everybody is in a good place.”
Schröder said that for him, European basketball is better than that of the American style because it is not only about entertainment but more about straight-IQ basketball, with players equally, if not more, talented and intelligent.
Kevin Durant seemingly did not like it and took to X following their gold triumph, posting their team photo with their gold medals and captioning it with:
Both Kevin Durant and Schröder had solid Olympic runs in Paris, with the Phoenix Suns superstar averaging 13.8 ppg on 54% shooting and 51.9% from deep in 22 minutes, while Schröder had norms of 17.2 ppg and 7.5 apg to earn a spot in the All-Star Five.
Kevin Durant hailed by Olympic teammates as among the best ever
While Dennis Schröder views Kevin Durant differently, the teammates of ‘KD’ in the U.S. national men’s basketball team consider him one of the true greats of basketball.
Durant won his fourth straight gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games and became the all-time leading scorer for Team USA, with 518 career total points.
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat highlighted what the two-time NBA champion had achieved in international play (via Andscape):
“He has put the stamp on being the greatest Olympian. He has imprinted his name at the top.”
LeBron James, who emerged as the Olympic MVP, also had a similar take but was looking at the bigger picture, sharing:
“KD is one of the all-time greats. If you look at his silhouette, look at his skill, he is one of the best players we have ever seen play the game of basketball. No matter your opinion about him or whether you like him, if you really just look at basketball and say basketball player talent, he is out of this world.”
Kevin Durant first played in the Olympics in 2012 in London and averaged 19.5 points, followed by Rio in 2016 (19.4 ppg) and Tokyo in 2020 (20.7 ppg).
