Steph, KD and U.S. men’s team savoring Olympics memories off the court: ‘I got to be a fan’

PARIS — Stephen Curry just wanted to feel like one of the Olympians.

During the July 26 opening ceremonies, he was floating down the Seine River on the Team USA boat, surrounded by hundreds of elite athletes. But the Golden State Warriors star’s celebrity status kept getting in the way of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I didn’t feel like just one of (the athletes) at first, because people were coming up to me saying, ‘Can I have a picture with you?’” said Curry, who, at 36, is competing in his first Olympics. “It was that type of vibe. I had to actually stop and tell them, like, ‘No, I want to know who you are, what you do and level the playing field, because you’re here for a reason too.’”

Hours later, Curry had taken more than 200 pictures with other athletes on his phone while learning all about the timeless tradition of Olympic pin-trading. This would become Curry’s favorite off-court moment of them all.

“I got to be a fan,” he said. “It was special.”

For the players on this American men’s Olympic basketball team — who are among the most famous athletes on the planet, and whose collective star power is the primary reason they stay away from the athlete villages during the Games — they’ve cherished these chances to connect with and marvel at their contemporaries these past few weeks.

And as the Games near an end, with Team USA set to play in a semifinal Thursday against Serbia and the potential gold-medal game two days later, the reminiscing has already begun.

When Kevin Durant was asked to pick his favorite memory of these Games, the answer came without hesitation.

”Seeing Simone,” he said with a smile.

Much like LeBron or KD or Steph, legendary American gymnast Simone Biles is one of the few athletes here whose Q rating is so astronomical that no last name is needed. So on Aug. 1, one night after the men’s basketball team beat South Sudan in pool play and two nights before the Americans would rout Puerto Rico, a group that included Durant, Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Tyrese Haliburton went to watch Biles in action.

She won her sixth gold medal that night, winning the all-around event while fellow American Suni Lee took bronze.

“I’d never been to a gymnastic event up close like that,” said Durant, the Phoenix Suns star and three-time gold medalist who is hoping to become the program’s first ever to win a fourth. “Obviously I’d watched (gymnastics) on TV, but it’s different when you’re there. And just to see her greatness, along with the other girls who put so much time into their craft, it’s just amazing to see how great they’ve become.”

But Durant’s observations went well beyond the thrilling result.

Until that evening, he wasn’t aware that gymnastics is such a youthful sport. He heard all about how the 27-year-old Biles is considered “old” in her sporting space, and how there are so many gymnasts — like 16-year-old American Hezly Rivera — who become elite before they can vote.

He heard the widespread criticism Biles received back in 2021, when she pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics despite being a gold-medal favorite in most of her events while citing a condition known as “the twisties.” Biles, who would later open up about the mental health challenges she was facing at the time, would become disoriented in the air and chose to shut it down as a result. To Durant, that decision — and the roaring comeback that has unfolded since — are just as much of a part of her legend as everything that came before.

But what Durant admires most about Biles, it seems, is how unafraid she is to tell the world how she feels, no matter what scrutiny comes her way. In front of the cameras. On social media. Wherever it may be.

Durant, no stranger to scrutiny himself, is notorious for engaging with fans and media members on public platforms. Biles, in that way and so many more, is now one of his inspirations.

“When people see so much potential in you at an early age, you’re gonna get nitpicked like that, and she’s been through it at the highest of highest levels,” Durant said. “For her to continue to come out and showcase the brilliance every day, and also let people know that they sound crazy talking against her? To be able to do both is inspiring.”

Durant paused.

“So yeah, she’s inspired me to keep tweeting and keep doing what I do on the court too,” he said with a laugh.

Of all the American hoopers creating memories, Booker is the most qualified to actually document them. Way back in 2016, when he was looking for creative methods of chronicling his first-ever All-Star experience in Toronto, Booker decided to go the vintage route and use a camcorder rather than a cell phone.

“I have some really good friends of mine who introduced me to cameras in my rookie year, and they were like, ‘Yo, keep a handycam on you (because) it feels more authentic than an iPhone,” said Booker, the 27-year-old who won a gold medal in the Tokyo Games and is in his second Olympics. “You get that old-school-style feel. It makes you pay attention to it more, makes you listen a little bit more. With an iPhone camera, the camera’s too good.”

Fast-forward to these Paris Games, two of Booker’s friends who assist with the production of his online content came along with him, and he has been sharing high-quality, well-edited video that routinely goes viral on his Instagram feed.

“We watch all the video back, then just cut it up,” Booker said. “The handicam is easy. We just take the coolest moments, and put them all into one.”

Like Durant, Booker said the chance to see Biles up close ranks at the top of his personal list. But there were plenty more.

On Sunday afternoon, Booker went to watch his “good friend,” the American fencer Miles Chamley-Watson, in a bronze-medal team match against France, then made the trek out to Stade de France to witness Noah Lyles’ stunning 100-meter final victory that required a photo-finish.

If he had to choose a favorite experience besides Biles — that was Durant’s pick, after all — Booker said it was the July 29 trip to La Concorde when his passion for skateboarding was fulfilled like never before.

“Seeing (American skateboarders) Nyjah (Huston), seeing Jagger (Eaton), Yuto (Horigome) from Japan — who all went top three — those are guys I admire,” Booker said. “I’ve tried to be on a skateboard, and I grew out of that very quick. But I’m in tune with skate culture, and how they go about their business, and I f— with it.

“The experience has been second to none for me. It’s getting around all the other events and seeing all the other talented people in the world at the same time. It’s something that I’ll pass down to generations of mine. I’ll send my handycam footage down to my kids’ kids’ kids, and hopefully they feel it.”

As Curry thinks back on all the different interactions that brought him joy, he starts listing the mementos that came his way during some of those moments. None of them would compare to the gold they’re all striving for, of course, but they’re still special.

He had a pingpong ball signed by the American women’s table tennis team when they came to watch the men’s basketball team practice. And yes, for those who wondered, that’s the same group of women who told Minnesota Timberwolves star and self-proclaimed table tennis extraordinaire Anthony Edwards that he wouldn’t be able to score a single point against any of them during their opening ceremonies boat ride.

Anthony Edwards thinks he can compete with the USA table tennis team 😂 pic.twitter.com/30GdJOmR3G

— Sideline Sources (@sidelinesources) July 27, 2024

And then there are the pins. So many cool pins.

“My (USA) skateboarding one is my favorite,” Curry said. “I got one from Team Jamaica, which was cool since I’ve got a lot of family on my wife’s side that’s from Jamaica. Pistol shooting too.”

He has a plan for the pictures too.

“I’m sentimental like that,” he said. “So once I get the prints, I might actually archive this and put it in a way where you pull out a bottle of wine six months from now, or six years from now, and just go through them and reminisce a little bit. I just want to have all those memories, to be able to relive it.”