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The 2016-17 Warriors might be the greatest team of all time, but Kevin Durant believes the 2026-27 76ers are as good on paper. Durant implied that's what he thought during a USA Basketball event on Sunday, and he doubled down on Monday when replying to a fan on Instagram who said the two teams "ain't close." "Ain’t close lmao," Durant replied. "Joel, mvp recently. Jaylen brown, recent finals mvp, Tyrese Maxey, all star the last 3 years. We all know what bron does. Klay Thompson, never a mvp candidate in nothing, 22ppg. Draymond, 14ppg 7 rebounds 6 assist, Steph a mvp just like Joel was. I don’t get how the warriors team is better on paper."
Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant said Saturday that LeBron James and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers have the offensive firepower to compete for the 2027 NBA championship. What's more, Durant evoked his two Golden State Warriors championship teams, which also featured Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, when praising the combined scoring prowess of Philadelphia's James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. "The last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the [Warriors] team I was on," Durant said at a USA Basketball event Saturday. "[The 76ers] have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they're going to be a contender. They're going to be a fun team to watch. It's going to be League Pass-worthy."
Durant and James won gold medals as teammates in the 2012 London and 2024 Paris Olympics. "It's really on [USA Basketball managing director] Grant Hill and what Team USA wants to do," Durant said. "I stay on top of my game and hopefully I get that call, but there's so many great players who deserve to be on the team."
Grant Hill: 'Contrary to popular belief, I do like Jaylen Brown. I love his game, and things got difficult there with that team. In putting the team together, just to give some context, we had Kawhi Leonard on that penciled in on that team, and he got hurt at the end of that season in 2024. He came to camp, he wasn't right, and so we had to pivot. A couple of things happened at that camp, and people want to believe what they want to believe, but at the end of the day, Kevin Durant showed up, he was hurt. He had a grade one calf strain, and I think we all have PTSD from the last time he had a calf strain, so we were very patient with him. Jayson Tatum had just had a baby, so he showed up late. Joel Embiid was, you know, we knew we were managing him, but we needed him for Nikola Jokic against Serbia, because that was the matchup. We didn't have our full roster, and then we started looking around and saying, oh man, like Jrue Holiday was so important for us in the FIBA game. A point guard who can play his role, ball pressure, the whole nine. If Jrue got hurt, our point guards were Jrue Holiday and Stephen Curry, and defense wasn't necessarily their strong point. It was like, okay, let's bring in insurance for Jrue Holiday and like Derrick White. So that was the thought process.'
NBA Courtside: Grant Hill on Jaylen Brown not being on the USA team: “When I announced then team, there were certain guys that I called before Woj and Shams broke it. And I called like Lillard, I called Jimmy Butler, I tried to call everybody because you never know when they’re going to break it. And you want to give guys the respect to hear it from me. I called Jaylen. We had a great conversation. Unbelievable conversation. And so something got lost there. And the implication that like a shoe company like to me that, look you guys can criticize my leadership. You can criticize the ability to put together a roster. When you’re in a role that I’m in, you open yourself up to criticism and I accept that. But to imply that like a shoe company told me what to do. Now you questioning my character, and that was the things that was weird.” (Via @RoadTrippinShow)
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Dave McMenamin: LeBron James is asked his favorite team he’s ever played for and brings up the Heatles, the 2016 Cavs and the 2020 Lakers. Then he adds the 2008 Redeem Team. No clues given.
"Did you play with Cooper in the summer? Were you in those practices with USA Basketball?" LeBron James: "Yeah, he was on the development team, on the select team we call them. Yeah, and he played extremely well, man. I've been watching Cooper for a few years because my son played AAU basketball on the Nike EYBL circuit. Bronny, so we would be in tournaments either in Peach Jam in Georgia or Kansas City or Dallas or Indianapolis and Cooper, unlike a lot of kids, he played for his team out of Maine. A lot of these kids are going to be recruited, but him and his brother and a bunch of those guys they grew up with played on, I think they were called Maine Select or something like that, but he made them competitive versus teams that were stacking teams. I thought that was super cool because that was how I was. I played for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars. Me and my guys grew up playing together and having to play all the best teams in the country. I just thought that was super cool, but he's a big-time talent."
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But Ford truly began to understand Brunson when he asked him back to play for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup in 2023. Brunson wanted to play for the national team again, but he had scheduled his wedding on a date that conflicted with the tournament. Ford and executive director Grant Hill prepared to move on. A few days later though, Ford got a call. Brunson confirmed that he would play. "[Villanova coach] Jay Wright called and was like, 'I can't f---ing believe he's changing his wedding to play for you.'"
You’ve also coached the U.S. men’s Olympic team. Celtics fans want to know why you didn’t really play Jayson Tatum, one of the league’s superstars, in the 2024 Olympics. You said that it was a “math problem.” What did you mean? We had LeBron James and Kevin Durant ahead of him. Both guys had incredible F.I.B.A. experience. They’re two of the greatest players of all time. Jayson happened to be playing the same position as them. If I had just said, “I'm going to play the best five guys” or whatever, then, yeah, Jayson’s probably out there. But you’re trying to put together a team. And so, ironically, the guys I played ahead of him were also Boston Celtics: Derrick White and Jrue Holiday. We needed guys who were on-ball defenders, facilitators, who would make Steph and LeBron and Kevin better. Jayson wasn’t really suited for that role as well as those other guys. And that’s the whole point of U.S.A. Basketball: take twelve of the best players on earth and try to make it work.
The conspiracy theorists claim you were trying to foment discord among the Celtics. Steve Kerr: Yeah. The 2020 election was rigged, too.
