Aug 7, 2021; Saitama, Japan; United States forward Kevin Durant (7) and centre Draymond Green (14) celebrate winning the gold medal against France in the men's basketball gold medal game during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Super Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
NBAOlympicsBy Sean Keeley on

Given the struggles that the U.S. men’s basketball team had before and in the early goings-on of the 2021 Summer Olympics, the doubters certainly came out of the woodwork about their potential to win a fourth-straight gold medal in Toyko. However, Kevin Durant took control, scoring 29 points to lead the Americans in an 87-82 victory over France to earn gold.

Durant, who joined Carmelo Anthony as the only tw0 U.S. men’s players with three Olympic gold medals, certainly had every right to celebrate and gloat on Friday evening following the victory. And that’s what he did, taking things to Instagram Live where he called out all the doubters and haters. However, as he was doing so, teammate Draymond Green showed up and sounded off on ESPN commentator Kendrick Perkins specifically.

“Kendrick Perkins, you talk a lot of shit. A lot of shit. Act like you American.”

Perkins had been pretty critical of Team USA’s performance in Tokyo and specifically noted before the gold medal game that he was happy this was the end of head coach Gregg Popovich’s time leading the squad. He ended up deleting that tweet after the team won, but not before it was noticed by Freezing Cold Takes, who then brought it to the attention of Perkins, who was looking to call out everyone and anyone who doubted them.

Perkins heard the feedback and, for his part, didn’t back down.

Green also wasn’t satisfied keeping his criticism to IG Live. He also talked about Perkins and others during the postgame presser.

“You turn on American sports talk TV, and you got guys like Kendrick Perkins, you know, doubting us. Somebody needs to teach these people some loyalty. How about you cheer for your country? But then when guys don’t play, ‘Oh, you need to go represent the country.’ And then you lose, hit a little bump in the road. And everybody’s, ‘Oh, everybody’s caught America.’ You are an American, too. Act like it. Do your job. You know, I do some media stuff. I understand doing your job. But, when you talk about a special group, you better be sure you’re right. And a lot of people got it wrong. And trust me, I’ll be posting those guys. I’ll be posting everybody I found who said something. No one holds people accountable anymore, but I will.”

After sleeping on it, Perkins returned to Twitter on Saturday morning to redirect the conversation away from him and back onto Team USA’s victory, which usually isn’t something that works well on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Draymond is having a field day calling out everyone else who publicly doubted the squad as well. We’re guessing he’ll notice Kendrick’s latest tweets eventually and the fun will continue.

[Sporting News]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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