Kevin Durant consoles emotional Victor Wembanyama following USA gold medal win over France

Team USA men’s basketball captured the gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics behind an impressive fourth quarter from superstar guard Stephen Curry. The U.S. beat the host country, France, 98-87. After the game, while many of the Team USA players were celebrating capturing gold, the new Olympic men’s basketball all-time leader in gold medals, Kevin Durant, was spotted embracing French basketball star Victor Wembanyama.

The NBA’s reigning Rookie Of The Year was beside himself with emotion after coming up just short in the gold medal game. Wembanyama could be seen crying following the final whistle. So, Durant went up to the young superstar, embraced him, and provided him with some words of wisdom.

Wembanyama finished the game as the French national team’s and the contest’s leading scorer with 26 points to go along with seven rebounds. The 7-foot-4 phenom, who plays for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs franchise, finished the contest shooting 58% from the field, connecting on 11 of its 19 field goal attempts. Although Wembanyama was the games leading scorer, it was the effort of Stephen Curry late that helped put Team USA over the top. Curry finished the game with 24 points, connecting on three 3-point attempts late after Wembanyama brought the French within three points with just over three minutes left in the game.

Durant finished the game with 15 points on 5-12 shooting from the field. The all-time leading scorer in the NBA, LeBron James, finished the contest with the game’s only double-double, 14 points and 10 assists.

While the loss of Olympic gold is a tough pill for Wembanyama to swallow, the French still earned a spot on the podium, taking home the silver medal. France’s men’s basketball national team is the first host team to medal since the United States did it in 1996 when they hosted the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA.