A young fan in Paris got a little too close for comfort to LeBron James as the Team USA star celebrated his third Olympic gold medal on the banks of the Seine.
James, wearing a U.S. basketball jersey and gym shorts, looked like he might be arriving at practice if not for the bottle of wine in one hand and the gold medal hanging around his neck. But for all the frivolity surrounding his arrival at a Parisian restaurant in a chauffeured Mercedes, James quickly became irritated when a young fan stepped in his way, apparently asking for a photo.
“Stop, stop, stop,” James told the boy as he raised his hand. “Don’t do that.”
The incident didn’t dampen James’ night, however, as the Los Angeles Lakers star quickly made his way to the restaurant’s entrance while fans congratulated him along the way.
Several fans online were upset by the incident.
A young fan in Paris got a little too close for comfort to LeBron James as the Team USA star celebrated his third Olympic gold medal on the banks of the Seine.
James then turned around and walked into the restaurant carrying a bottle of wine.
“Even though the kid blocked it, LeBron could have handled it a lot better,” wrote one on X. “It’s another bad look at King James.”
“Michael Jordan wouldn’t have done that,” another added.
Others understood James’ plight.
“He’s not getting mad,” one fan wrote on X to defend James. “He’s asking him to stop. I can’t imagine people blaming me like that.”
Team USA’s mission was complete Saturday night when the U.S. won gold for the fifth straight year at the Games, beating France (in Paris, no less) 98-87. Stephen Curry scored 24 points, all on 3-pointers, while Kevin Durant won his fourth Olympic gold and James won his third gold and fourth medal overall.
And then the party started. Before long, it will be time to start thinking about how to do it again in 2028, when the Olympics return to Los Angeles. Grant Hill will be back as CEO of the men’s national team and is already excited about what lies ahead.
“I’ve done a lot of things in my life,” Hill said. “And this is something that’s definitely consuming, but it’s incredibly rewarding.”
Especially when the team wins.
Bam Adebayo and LeBron James (right) watch the Americans win gold in Paris
NBA rivals LeBron James and Jayson Tatum celebrate their gold medal win over France
Breanna Stewart is congratulated by LeBron James, Bam Adebayo and Derrick White
There will be changes between now and 2028. James will be 43 and likely retired by then (though with James, never say never). It may seem doubtful that Curry and Durant will still be playing in four years, but then again, who knows. Some players like Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo have already said they want to stay with the team; others like Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton seem to have their spots locked up if they want to continue.
No decision has been made and that won’t change for a while. Hill will be taking a well-deserved break. The next major international tournament is the World Cup in Qatar in 2027. It’s safe to say it will be sometime in 2025 before he starts to get serious about putting together a group for that.
“In four years, a lot can happen,” Hill said. “Now, you have to step back from that a little bit, let things play out and see how guys continue to develop and see what kind of season they have over the next year or so. And then at some point, you start that whole process over again.”
When he took over, Hill said he wanted a clear avenue of communication for players and coaches. Some leave the program, others move up. Steve Kerr made it clear when he agreed to replace Gregg Popovich as U.S. coach that it would be for the 2023 World Cup and these Paris Olympics. It would seem likely that the next national team coach will be Spoelstra or Tyronn Lue, given that both were Kerr assistants the past two summers.
And there are already plenty of candidates for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Adebayo has said he wants to play, and Davis (admittedly with a new gold medal hanging around his neck possibly influencing his mood) said Saturday night that he thinks he’ll play in 2028. Edwards, Haliburton, Tatum and Booker (who was incredible at these Olympics) will all be 31 or younger by the time the Los Angeles Games roll around. Edwards will turn just 27 that summer.
LeBron James clashes with Frenchman Victor Wembanyama in the Olympic final
NBA forward Nic Batum did well to get out of the way as James slid in for an easy dunk.
Add to that a few players from the World Cup team (Paolo Banchero, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart could all be on that list), and you have a lot of logical options. There will be more, many more.
“We love having some of these young guys on the team so they can be part of the next group,” Kerr said. “But we don’t really think about that when we put the team together. We just put together the best group possible to win now and we’ll worry about 2028 in four years.”
In April 2021, USA Basketball announced that Hill would replace Jerry Colangelo as executive director of the men’s national team. Colangelo officially stepped down about four months later when the Tokyo Games ended, ending a streak of four Olympic gold medals and two world championships.
The job seems simple, but it is not. The CEO has the main task of choosing the best players and coaches to accept being part of a program in which anything less than a gold medal is considered a failure.
“I don’t know if I fully understood everything that was involved when I was announced or even considered it,” Hill said. “It’s been a marathon, maybe an ultramarathon, one of those 100-mile races. But everything, the preparation, the game planning, the strategy, the logistics, there have been really good times and tough times. It’s all been absolutely incredible. It’s been more challenging, more rewarding and more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined.”
