Who would’ve thought that out of all the stars on Team USA, 39-year-old LeBron James would end up becoming the top scorer in the Showcase games, ahead of the Paris Olympics? Well, King James proved that age is just a number for him as he took over against South Sudan and Germany in crunch time and willed his team to victory. Going by the eye test, many have even deemed LBJ the best on the roster. However, a media veteran believes that it might all change when Kevin Durant makes his highly-anticipated return to the lineup in Paris.

Will the Slim Reaper replace LeBron James as ‘The Guy’ upon returning?

Watching LeBron dominate in the Showcase games, even his long-time rival and Celtics legend Paul Pierce was taken aback. Surprisingly, that led to him making a bold claim on Undisputed, “When you look at the regular season and you like, Oh, Ant-Man is next in line or Jayson Tatum is this, but when you see the collection come all together and you watch LeBron, man he might be clearly the best player still in the NBA.” Although LeBron’s greatness cannot be denied, calling him the best player in the league based on a few exhibition game performances, especially looking at the Lakers’ last few seasons, might be a bit of an overstatement.

Doug Gottlieb then claimed that Pierce is only partially right because the FIBA rules favor a player like LeBron to dominate, “What I think most people don’t account for is the fact that this is a very different game. You have to be big. You have to be able to make shots over the top. The game is very physical.”

“There’s a reason that European teams are able to hang with the far more athletic American players.” Visibly more physical than an NBA game, LeBron’s 6’9 frame and years of international experience, unlike most of his teammates, allow him to excel in this style. “If you wanna say he’s the best player at playing FIBA-style basketball, right now the answer is yes,” Doug added. But why only right now?

“He (LeBron) also has a supreme amount of confidence they believe in him and those other guys don’t really know how to react and gives LeBron the chance to takeover. Now I think a lot of that’ll change when Kevin Durant comes back and then KD becomes the go-to scorer late, coz LeBron still holds the ball too long and KD remember bailed us out in the last Olympics. He was the guy,” the analyst remarked on The Doug Gottlieb Show.

While it was King James who scored the final 11 points against Germany and the game-winning layup against South Sudan, it can be argued that KD is a much more prolific scorer and a better closer than the 39-year-old. Moreover, The Slim Reaper also has a 6’11 frame to penetrate any defense along with a lot of Olympic experience, just like Bron. On top of that, he is also Team USA’s leading scorer in Olympics history with 435 points in only 22 appearances, while James ranks third on that list with far less, 273 points despite playing two more games than KD. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Steve Kerr turned to KD in crunch time instead of LBJ.

When will Kevin Durant return to the Team USA lineup?

While Gottlieb’s concern is valid about KD replacing LeBron as the primary scorer, it is still uncertain when the two-time champ will make his first appearance on the court. Dealing with a calf strain for quite some time, KD did not play in any of Team USA’s Showcase games. Moreover, he only started practicing recently with videos of him having one-on-one sessions with his teammates making the rounds on the internet. “I’ve seen progress every day. It’s one of those things. Just got to monitor it every day. I’ll see how I feel after I do certain exercises. My thing is to keep running and see what happens,” KD recently gave an update on his injury.

Although fans hope to see him on the court on July 28 against Serbia, Team USA’s first official game of the Paris Olympics, veteran insider Brian Windhorst does not see that happening. “I think they’re gonna be playing Serbia without Kevin Durant. They really were hoping he would be able to play one of these two games in London, he was a scratch tonight. Steve Kerr met with him today and they decided he needs more time with that strained calf,” he said.

Having already won three gold medals in the Olympics, KD would love to get back on the court as soon as possible and pursue his fourth one, making him the most successful Team USA star ever. But considering that the last time KD had a strained calf back in 2019, he returned in the NBA Finals and ended up tearing his Achilles. He would surely not want to rush his recovery this time.

So, for the time being, we might continue to see LeBron James as the primary option until KD arrives.