USA Basketball wins gold medal: Stephen Curry, LeBron James hold off France at 2024 Paris Olympics

Team USA men's basketball has captured its fifth consecutive gold medal. Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant led the Americans to a 98-87 victory against host country France to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday. 

It was a tense gold medal game in front of a raucous pro-France crowd at Bercy Arena in Paris, but Team USA never trailed in the second half and Curry put the game away with a mesmerizing 3-point flurry late in the fourth quarter on his way to 24 points. Curry put the game out of reach by himself. He hit four 3-pointers in two minutes and 11 seconds. His last one  -- which came with 35 seconds remaining -- was a shot seemingly only Steph Curry could make.

"I impressed myself with that one," Curry told reporters in Paris.

Victor Wembanyama made life difficult for the Americans, scoring a team-best 26 points in the biggest game of his life to date. Guerschon Yabusele aided Wembanyama with 20 points for France, including a poster dunk over James in the second quarter. 

Here are four takeaways from what was an electric gold medal game. 

Curry checks final box

Four NBA championships. Two MVPs (one courtesy of the only unanimous vote in history). Two scoring titles. Ten All-Star games. Ten All-NBA selections. Career NBA 3-point leader. Finals MVP. And now, finally, Olympic gold medalist.

The latter was, until Aug. 10, 2024, the one thing missing from one of the greatest basketball resumes ever written, and Curry knew it. On the flight home from the Warriors' 2022 NBA title win in Boston, Curry said it himself.

"I still got something to do," Curry said. "I gotta go play for Coach Kerr in '24. ... I gotta go get an Olympic medal. Save a spot for me."

Team USA indeed saved Curry a spot, and he came up huge when it mattered most with 60 points and 17 3-pointers over the final two games. There is no chance the Americans would've even been playing in the gold medal game were it not for the heroics of Curry against Serbia in the semifinals, when he put up 36 points, one shy of Carmelo Anthony's single-game American Olympic record.

"It is special. Two years ago, when we won our last [NBA] championship, I knew that [the Olympics] was going to be on the horizon as something I was excited to go after," Curry said.  "…These last five weeks together with this group has been nothing but '1-2-3 gold.' That's all we've been saying. So, for us to finally accomplish that, for me to get a gold medal is insane."

Curry got off to a slow start against France by committing two early turnovers and missing his first three 3-pointers, but from that point forward he made eight of 10 3s to finish with 24 points. After France cut the Americans' lead to three with under three minutes to play, Curry proceeded to drain four 3-pointers in less than a two-minute stretch capped by one of the most ridiculous shots you will ever see. 

Here's a look at every one of his four clutch triples:

"It's just get to your spot and just be under control," Curry said of his shooting in such tense moments. "You're taking those type of shots countless times in the gym, and you have a rhythm, it's just being decisive. We had turnovers because we weren't decisive on what we were trying to do. I knew if I got to my spot and I could get a good release on it, I would be able to knock it down. You live with the results. There's a lot of faith in it. ...Thankfully, the work took over."

With so many killers on this U.S. team, it was Curry who scored 12 of the Americans' final 16 points to cap probably the greatest two-game stretch in Olympic history and completely erase what had been an ugly Olympic start for the future Hall of Famer. 

• Curry's first four Olympic games: 29 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5/20 3PT
• Curry in the semifinal and gold medal game: 60 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 17/26 3PT
  

Just an insane turn of events for not only the greatest shooter and one of the best players ever, but for probably the most flammable scorer the game has ever seen. Once he sees the ball go in, he can burn your whole city down. On Saturday, he did it to a whole country, and it got him his first Olympic gold medal. 

"I've been blessed to play basketball at a high level for a very long time," Curry said. "This ranks very high in terms of the excitement and sense of relief getting to the finish line."

LeBron named MVP

Rightfully so. You could make a strong case for Curry given the way he carried the Americans in what were their only two challenging games, but LeBron was the best player on the team from start to finish of this tournament. He ran the show, defended, hit timely 3-pointers, put his head down and got to the bucket when he needed do ... just incredible stuff on his way to his third Olympic gold medal. 

The Olympic MVP is strange. They gave one out in 2004 to Manu Ginobili, who led Argentina to gold in the last Olympic year the Americans' did not win it all, and then didn't do it again until the 2021 Games in Tokyo, when Kevin Durant took home the honors. 

This time it goes to James, who finished with a combined 30 points, 20 assists and 18 rebounds in the semifinal and gold medal game while averaging 14.2 points (on 66% shooting), 8.5 assists (his 51 total assists were second only to Nikola Jokic), 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals for the tournament. 

Durant gets fourth gold medal

Durant now owns the most Olympic gold medals in men's basketball history. The all-time leading scorer in U.S. Olympic history, he has been the best international American player by a long shot. Take a look at all the other categories in which he is the all-time American leader in Olympic action.

• Rebounds: 1st 
• Field goals made: 1st
• 3-pointers made: 1st
• Free throws made: 1st

Throw in his two NBA championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP and four NBA scoring titles, and he is on the short list of most decorated basketball players to ever walk the planet. 

Durant has been at his best in the biggest moments. In his previous three gold medal games, he registered 30, 30 and 29 points. On Saturday, he had 15 to go with four assists and four rebounds. Durant came off the bench through the first four games, but when it was go time, Steve Kerr knew what to do as he put KD into the starting lineup and leaned on him, along with LeBron and Curry, to deliver the ultimate prize. 

Victor Wembanyama has arrived

Wembanyama was sensational in the gold medal game, finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds on 11-of-19 shooting. He made three 3-pointers. He combined with Guerschon Yabusele (20 points) for over half of France's offensive output. 

For the tournament, Wembanyama averaged 15.8 points, 9.7 rebonds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.7 blocks in under 30 minutes per game. That was enough to earn him a spot on the Olympic All-Star five along with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Dennis Schroder and Nikola Jokic. 

Wembanyama wasn't used a typical go-to player but he was certainly a focal point for France, which opted to sit Rudy Gobert for much of the tournament and ride Wemby as the main big man. We know about his defense -- the rim protection, the recovery range, the hands, etc. -- and finishing impact with put-backs and lobs, and we know he can shoot the ball, but we're now starting to see some indications that he's ready to have offense run through him for the bulk of an NBA game. 

He only shot 29% from 3 in this tournament and 42% overall, but the decision-making continues to get better and better. He doesn't force much. He was decisive early in the gold medal game in beating Joel Embiid one-on-one from the post, then he hit Embiid again with a hesitation and finish in early offense. Once he gets strong enough to move people in the post, his finishing range is going to be impossible to combat. 

Add to that his passing, which he weaponized throughout this tournament as defensive attention shifted to him, and his clear penchant for the relishing the big-stage responsibility, and the San Antonio Spurs could be on the fast track to contention. 

Men's basketball medals at the Olympics