The United States Basketball team, which is being led by Kevin Durant, at the Tokyo Olympics lost to France, on Sunday, marking their first loss in the Olympics since 2004. This setback was noticed by Patrick Ewing,  who was part of the 1992 Olympics ‘Dream Team’. He said the rest of the world has caught up to the United States.

In a statement to the New York Post after the results of Sunday’s match were declared, Ewing said, “It’s an unfortunate time we’re living in, losing players to COVID-19 protocols. It’s harder to play now because of the Dream Team. All the current players grew up looking up to us and watching us dominate the rest of the world. But the rest of the world caught up.”

However, he later added that rooting for the United States team at the Tokyo Olympics and also for their coach, Gregg Popovich.

The 1992 Olympics Basketball squad of the United States, which has been dubbed as the ‘Dream Team’ consisted of highly celebrated players like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Karl Malone and others. 

The ‘Dream Team’ not only secured a gold medal for the United States in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992 but also glided over teams with a point differential of at least 30, according to US media reports.

On Sunday, the French team held Kevin Durant and company to mere 10 points in the first-round game as the NBA players Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier along with others in the team played against the USA team.

The last time the men’s American team lost at the Basketball event at the Olympics was in 2004, Athens against South America’s Argentina.

As of Sunday, the overall United States team at the Tokyo Olympics is seeded at the third rank with a medal tally of 4-2-4, running behind hosts Japan and long-time competitor China.