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Former Texas basketball star Kevin Durant makes US history at Olympics

Former Texas basketball star Kevin Durant makes US history at Olympics

With a jaw-dropping dunk against Brazil in an Olympic Games quarterfinal match in France on Tuesday, former Texas basketball star Kevin Durant became the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. national team.

Durant’s slam dunk with 3 minutes and 6 seconds left in the third quarter of the game, which the USA won 122-87, brought his total to 489 points in four Olympics. Lisa Leslie, who played for the USA women’s team in four Olympics, held the record with 488 points.

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Durant set a new record with 494 points, starting with 11 points in Thursday’s semifinal against Serbia.

“Records are meant to be broken,” Durant told reporters after the game. “Someone else will come along who will do the same thing. I’m focused on winning this gold.”

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Durant, a 6-foot-11 forward, is hoping to join Leslie in winning four gold medals for the U.S. No male athlete from any country in Olympic history has ever won four gold medals.

The eighth-leading scorer in NBA history, Durant shined in his only season at Texas. He averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds for a team that went 25–10 in 2006–07 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Those numbers helped Durant become the first freshman to win national player of the year honors after winning both the John Wooden Award and the Naismith College Player of the Year Award.