Clear skies, great food, even greater company, and a few gold medals – that’s been the highlights of Magic Johnson’s vacation stop in Venice. The ’92 gold medalist’s grand Mediterranean cruise arrived in Venice, over 500 miles from where Team USA maintained its unbeaten record. Magic and Cookie’s Italian getaway has been romantic and scenic so far. But they were ready for some excitement courtesy of the entire American squad of 594 athletes. Among the few track and field golds that add to the all-time 3,000 tally, it was the men’s basketball team’s rally in the semis that overjoyed the NBA legend.

Even during R&R time, Magic can’t skip the Olympics. He gave the latest glimpse of his stay in Venice on Instagram writing, “We enjoyed an amazing lunch today at Belmond Cipriani at Hotel Cipriani! Now it’s time to settle in and watch the Olympics.” From there he hopped on to X for the standard hypeman Magic play-by-play.

Among the many Team USA heros in Paris today, the NBA stars won him over. After the group phase, the remaining teams are playing for medals. That brought Team USA face-to-face with Nikola Jokic and Serbia for the third time this summer. They won the first two times but The Joker was not going to make this an easy win.

A 17-point deficit in the start painted a bad picture for LeBron James & Co. It was finally Steph Curry’s moment, closing the score gap with nine 3-pointers and making 36 crucial points. He was impactful in securing a narrow 95-91 win over Serbia and taking the USA to the gold medal game.

USA is unbeaten so far but also squeaking by as international basketball is catching up with the NBA (blame Magic and the Dream Team for that). But Curry’s clutch heroics won the day for Magic and got a special shoutout. “Team USA lives on to fight for gold after a tough battle against Serbia! Steph Curry carried US to a victory scoring 9 threes on his way to 36 points!”

They play against the host nation, France, for gold next. They too have the reigning ROTY and DPOY on the roster (though Rudy Gobert is yet to impress). But tonight, Curry was not the only one on the squad of ‘Avengers’ that won the Magic Johnson seal of approval.

The Olympics liven up the Magic Johnson cruise

The Johnsons’ friends, Samuel L. Jackson, Cedric the Entertainer and their respective spouses have returned to the US. That left Magic and Cookie with their crew on Phoenix 2. But it wasn’t quiet by any means. According to Magic, everyone on the yacht has not had a break from cheering for Team USA.

Katie Ledecky, Cole Hocker, Gabby Thomas, and the USA women’s volleyball team are among many gold medal winners who got special mentions on Magic’s page. The spectacular Curry-like clutchism Quincy Hall pulled had Magic and Cookie on their feet.

Kevin Durant, who called Curry “god-like,” was hailed by Johnson for furthering his all-time Team USA scoring record to 489. “Congratulations to Kevin Durant on becoming the career leader in points for the U.S. in Olympic competition with 489 points!” Magic wrote. The Sparks co-owner is definitely not bitter KD beat Lisa Leslie’s record.

The final is on Saturday. We don’t know where Magic’s cruise is heading by then. But Team USA’s fight for gold is his priority.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.