USWNT and US men’s basketball win gold in Paris
Mallory Swanson scored a goal in the 57th minute to lead the USWNT to gold, while Steph Curry and Co. defeated France on their home court to take the overall victory.
PARIS – He appeared in shoes as shiny and gold as the medal he would hang around his neck on Saturday night for the third and perhaps final time of his career.
For LeBron James, the color choice seemed to be a statement: about his intentions at the Olympics, about his mission for Team USA, about everything in his basketball life that leads to another gold medal.
Despite everything he has achieved at 39, James hasn’t just come here to help his country win a tournament. He has proven something. As long as he plays this sport, no one will shine brighter than him.
LeBron still has it. He was the best player at the Olympics and won the tournament’s MVP award. He is clearly still capable of dominating a basketball game at a level that few in the world can match.
And that leads to a question more important than what he’s done in the last month: How could the Los Angeles Lakers screw up this chapter of his career so badly?
I will admit that I think James suffered a bit of a drop in performance last season, despite being named to the All-NBA Third Team. And given the heavy investment they made in James and Anthony Davis, I figured it wouldn’t really matter what else they did: The Lakers would be stuck with an old team that would continue to languish in play-in purgatory while James continued to deteriorate until his inevitable retirement.
Maybe the Lakers thought so too. Maybe that explains why Rob Pelinka sat idle in the offseason, not making a single roster change to improve a team that went 47-35 last season and finished seventh in the Western Conference.
But after watching James steamroll everyone else at the Olympics, I’m actually angry at Lakers management for tinkering around the edges these past few years as time runs out for this once-in-a-lifetime career.
OK, he’s not quite the defender he once was, and you can’t let him play 82 games like you used to, but those are the only concessions to time that James has made in his late 30s.
His physical ability is still top-notch. His passing is still otherworldly. His ability to read the game and make decisions is perhaps better than ever. When he’s determined to just put his head down and roll to the basket like a freight train, there’s no stopping him in the world.
Can James still lead a team to an NBA title? How could anyone watch these Olympics and think otherwise?
Even on a team full of superstars, he towered over everyone else. When America’s best goes up against the best in the world, there’s still no doubt who gets the job done.
No one else could have done that in this tournament.
Anthony Edwards didn’t have the authority. Jayson Tatum was just there for fun. The guys who will eventually replace James as the American face of the league weren’t prepared for this.
Ultimately, this team was put together by James so that he could make one last run at the Olympics along with his few true peers from the NBA pantheon.
But from training camp to the friendly matches to the final, it was a rollercoaster ride for everyone else on this team. Steph Curry was not in a good mood at the start, but then hit a barrage of three-pointers to keep France at bay in the gold medal game. Kevin Durant had to battle back from injury. Joel Embiid was useful in some moments, out of place in others.
James, however, was always there. He prevented potential humiliation against South Sudan and Germany. In the preliminary rounds, he was the Americans’ source of energy. When everything was at stake against Serbia, James brought Team USA over the finish line. And in the gold medal game against France, everything went through him: 14 points, six rebounds, 10 assists in almost 33 minutes on the court.
Even on a team full of superstars, this gold medal was only possible because James wore the red, white and blue one more time. We’ve never seen anything like it on the eve of his 40th birthday.
And what do the Lakers do with this national treasure? They sell tickets and let the clock run out.
There may not be many great years left, but these Olympics have shown that it is still worth it for the Lakers to make the most of them – by trading draft picks, mortgaging the future, whatever the cost.
He is still one of the best players in the world and there is no time to lose. What are you waiting for?
James will be 43 years old when the next Summer Olympics take place in Los Angeles, and it’s impossible to believe he’ll still be that player in four years. But with LeBron James, you don’t just accept the impossible. You have to imagine it.
Team USA did it and was rewarded with a gold medal. Now it’s the Lakers’ turn.
