DeAndre Jordan on Olympic golds: “I think they’re above NBA rings”

Because while winning a gold medal is certainly a noteworthy accomplishment, it doesn’t come close to the difficulty level of winning an National Basketball Association title – especially for the guys playing for Team USA.

What do Carmelo Anthony and DeAndre Jordan have in common?

Although undefeated thus far, the USA only beat France 100-97 on Sunday at the Olympics, but most were expecting Carmelo Anthony – going for his third gold medal – and company to dominate the competition in Rio. “You’re playing teams from all over the world”. I want always us to win the gold medal.

“I mean [being gay] is just taboo”, she said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about it”.

Even without the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, many expected the United States men’s basketball team to cruise to a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I think they’re above National Basketball Association rings”, Jordan told ESPN.

“Serbia-Croatia is a classic the last 25 years and I think it’s time for us to do something, to fight 100 percent this game and I think we can beat them”, Croatia’s Dario Sakic said. “But yeah, I definitely feel like I did a lot better this time”.

Golden State’s Kevin Durant, the 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player and four-time NBA scoring champion, leads the USA squad with 16.8 points a game and averages 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists as well. “I don’t think they did a good job”.

It is indeed a special accomplishment. Think about it: Both his stats and his championship pedigree would be unmatched (three gold medals converts to 12 National Basketball Association titles, obviously).

Any NBA season, meanwhile, is an incredibly exhausting grind which, if it ends with a run to a title, will last nearly eight full months. Team USA plays Argentina late Wednesday afternoon in win-or-go-home play.

Now, it’s possible that the argument Irving and Jordan make could ring true for players representing other countries, because winning an Olympic gold medal in basketball for them would require upsetting the heavily favored U.S. squad that is loaded from top to bottom with star-level talent. In eight seasons, he has yet to advance past the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, but Jordan has spoken often in the past month about how thrilled he was to receive his first berth on the USA senior men’s national team after earning All-NBA First Team honors last season.