Kevin Durant Calls Out The Claim That The World Is Taking Over Team USA As Top Basketball Powerhouse

For the longest time, the United States dominated the game of basketball, with the first MVP of the league from outside of the USA coming in 1995, almost four decades after the NBA became the worlds top basketball league. In recent times, they've still had the likes of Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but many feeling their grip on dominance of the sport has been loosening in recent years. 

On the back of Steve Nash (twice), Dirk Nowitzki, Giannis Antetokounmpo (twice), Nikola Jokic (three times), Joel Embiid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the world has won 10 of the last 21 MVP awards, including the last seven. That has many people truly believing the USA is not the world superpower of basketball anymore, but according to Kevin Durant, that's overstating things significantly.

“All I hear is, 'AAU is destroying the game, the Euros do it right’, while the Americans do it wrong. It's a lot of bulls**t with that. I can read between the lines on that; it's a shot at Black Americans. We're controlling the sport; they're tired of us controlling the sport. France is coming for you.' Really? We smacked them boys.”

There are definitely things to criticize the USA for at the youth level, but as Durant notes, it's the United States that still hold Olympic Gold following the 2024 games in Paris, and that proves they are still the superior nation. With the 2028 Olympics not far away, the grip could be slipping even more, and whether or not the US remains on top, it's safe to say that it's exciting for basketball that other nations have risen to this level.