Brooklyn Nets point guard Dennis Schroder and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant recently made headlines for a trade between the United States and the basketball world. After Team USA won gold in Paris in men’s basketball, Durant posted a photo of the team with their medals on X, captioned “ENTERTAINMENT & IQ.”
ENTERTAINMENT AND IQ pic.twitter.com/2e9dopdrJi
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 11, 2024
But where does this legend come from? Earlier, before Germany’s bronze medal match against Serbia, Schroder had made the following statement at a press conference: “European basketball is not entertainment, it is purely intellectual basketball. Purely intellectual coaching.”
It was clear that Schroder’s comments were aimed at American basketball and the NBA, but Team USA proved him wrong by beating European teams on the way to the gold medal. After Durant posted the message, Schroder responded on a Twitch stream saying the following: “They won, and Kevin Durant tweets, ‘High IQ and entertainment.’ That’s just weakness to me.”
“You’re that kind of star, and you have to say something to a person like me who didn’t even mean for it to be negative,” he said. “That’s just what I see from both sides, you know what I mean? I didn’t appreciate it.”
There is a problem with the way Schroder reacted. To put it simply, he took a swipe at American basketball and Durant proved him wrong, but now Schroder is walking back his comments by calling Durant “weak.”
Schroder should not have reacted and should have taken this decision head on. He was proven wrong by beating all his opponents in the preseason, group stages and playoffs. America has proven that it still dominates world basketball when it comes to the best talent. Being wrong and then calling the one who proved you wrong “weak” just because he defends his country is not a good image.
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