After the US team won gold at the Paris Olympics, FIBA honored LeBron James as the tournament’s MVP. The 39-year-old finished the 2024 Summer Olympics averaging 14.2 points, 8.5 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
⭐️ THE MVP OF #Paris2024 Men #Basketball ⭐️
LeBron James, United States of America 🇺🇸 👑 pic.twitter.com/7S6UWxvNPq
— FIBA (@FIBA) 10 August 2024
He finished Saturday’s contest with 14 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, two steals and one block in 32 minutes.
LeBron James today:
14 points
6 REB
10 AST
6-10 F.C.His third Olympic gold medal. pic.twitter.com/055IkOzQLO
— StatMuse (@statmuse) 10 August 2024
LeBron James, the star of the US team, is the best player of the Olympic Games
James’ performance against France was spectacular in itself, but it’s even more astonishing when you consider that James recorded a triple-double in the U.S. national team’s previous game against Serbia.
LeCaptain America today:
16 points
12 REB
10 AST
6-9 F.C.The first player in Olympic history with multiple triple-doubles. pic.twitter.com/KGEyhcgrUx
— StatMuse (@statmuse) 8 August 2024
His triple-double was only the third in Olympic history before Nikola Jokic followed with a triple-double of his own to lead Serbia to the bronze medal. Now he and Jokic share history as the first two players to record a triple-double in the same Olympic tournament.
James is the only player in Olympic history to achieve two triple-doubles in his career.
Jokic today:
— 19 points
— 12 REB
— 11 AST
— Bronze medalOlympic Games leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals. pic.twitter.com/9N3X2jmuTd
— StatMuse (@statmuse) 10 August 2024
Although James has already won Olympic gold three times, this is the first time he has been named Most Valuable Player.
This may be surprising given his outstanding performance at the 2012 London Olympics. However, FIBA had suspended the award in 2008, 2012 and 2016. In 2021, Kevin Durant was named tournament MVP at the Tokyo Olympics, which James did not participate in. With everything but the Defensive Player of the Year award under his belt, his status as arguably the best player of all time was cemented.
A well-known story
After shouldering Team USA in the tryouts, James got some help as the tournament progressed. In many ways, their play was similar to the teams he played for in the NBA. With James as their North Star, his job has been to lead them to championships for over two decades. Although his star teammates often delivered, he was the most consistent player on the squad.
It was no different on Team USA during the Olympic Games in Paris and shortly before his 22nd NBA season.
