Kevin Durant had plenty to say when Team USA faced South Sudan in their second game of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
The South Sudanese team has emerged as one of the great sporting underdog stories, but they were always going to be fighting an uphill battle against Team USA, and Kevin Durant was sure to make their lives even harder.
While shooting a pair of free throws, Durant taunted South Sudan head coach and close friend Royal Ivey with some pointed trash talk during the game.
The future Hall of Famer could be heard telling Ivey on at least two occasions, “Y’all n**gas ain’t tough”.
KD told them they ain’t tough 😂 pic.twitter.com/I1MU3l0G43
— LEEZUS (@AndrewLeezus) August 1, 2024
Durant and Ivey were teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder and are close friends to this day, so this is likely just some friendly competition and nothing truly hostile.
Nevertheless, the South Sudanese team would have good reason to disagree with Durant’s comments. They have arguably shown more toughness in their unlikely journey to Paris than any other team. That much was clear when Royal Ivey recently opened up to reporters about some of the challenges his team has faced.
“We don’t have the pleasure of having a gymnasium, dorms, and other facilities,” Ivey said. “We had a tough training camp in Rwanda, then traveled to Spain, moving around a lot, taking long flights, and giving up exit rows to my 7-footers. These are the things people don’t talk about. They don’t see us getting delayed for seven hours in the airport while we’re in Chad.
“Luol Deng has been funding this thing for four years out of his own pocket,” Ivey added. “He pays for gyms, hotels, plane tickets — everything. Kudos to Luol and the staff. We wouldn’t have been able to put this team together without them.”
After beginning their debut Olympic campaign with a win over Puerto Rico, and then losing to the United States, South Sudan will play Serbia in their final pool game on Saturday at 3pm ET.
READ MORE: ‘It Still Doesn’t Feel Real’: Inside South Sudan’s Unlikely Run to the Olympics
