By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Three former Kentucky men’s basketball players are gold medalists.
Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo and Keldon Johnson helped lead Team USA to an 87-82 win over France in the gold medal game late Friday night in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The feat was an accomplishment in such a short time for the Americans after falling to France in the group stage of the Olympics and dropping a pair of exhibition games prior to departing for Tokyo.
“To win the game is very satisfying, because they are such a wonderful basketball team,” Team USA coach Gregg Popovich said.
“So, I give them a lot of credit, and, of course, we’re thrilled and honored to be able to represent the country the way we did. The team progressed very rapidly in a very short period of time, under some difficult circumstances, which I think made this win all the sweeter. So, we’re glad it’s over.”
Kentucky became the first team to have at least three players to win a gold medal on the squad since members of the Fabulous Five — Cliff Barker, Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Wallace Jones and Kenny Rollins — guided the Americans to gold in 1948.
After leading Phoenix to the NBA Finals last month, Booker averaged 9.3 points and shot 42.2 percent from the floor in the Olympics. Adebayo chipped in with 6.3 points per game, grabbed a team-high average of 5.7 rebounds per contests and collected seven blocked shots.
“Surfside,” Adebayo said in a tweet. “Mission accomplished.”
The Heat plan to unveil an Olympic gold medalists banner for Adebayo next season, alongside Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James.
A late addition to the team, Johnson appeared in four of six games.
In the finale, Kevin Durant led Team USA with 29 points and sank two free throws with 8.8 seconds remaining to help the Americans claim a gold medal for the fourth straight time. Overall, Team USA has win gold medals in 16 of 19 appearances in the Summer Olympic Games.
Adebayo finished with six points, dished out four assists and grabbed six rebounds in the finals. Booker scored two points.
• As of Friday, nine current and former athletes at Kentucky have captured gold medals throughout the Summer Games, including six gold medals. Overall, current and former UK athletes have claimed 11 medals.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.