MIES (Switzerland) - Nicolas Batum secured his place in international basketball lore long before the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024.
Yet in France last summer, in his last tournament with his national team, the world discovered in the Netflix series Court of Gold that Batum was something else. He was an honest, tell-it-like-it-is outspoken leader, especially in the difficult moments of games when the team was not playing well.
After the team plodded through its first two games and even escaped with an overtime win over Japan in the second of them, Germany had the French on the ropes at half-time in the last Group B game with a 48-27 lead.
In one of the Court of Gold episodes, Batum is seen challenging his teammates and coaches with a fiery speech at half-time of that game.
“What do we want? Why are we here? Do we want the gold medal? I don’t know what we want, we’re getting destroyed. No one can open up, no one can get open, we’re getting screens in our face all the time. No one is responding. We’re being pushed around in midcourt, we can’t run an offense, we don’t know how to get out of a pick-and-roll.
They are laughing at us and no one is reacting!
"Yeah, we want the gold medal and to be Olympic champions. Yeah, my ass! We got crushed last year, nothing changed this year, we’re doing the same thing. They’re laughing at us. And no one is reacting!”
France did battle hard in the second half against Germany and closed the gap to 69-57 with 6:45 remaining after a Guerschon Yabusele dunk yet got no closer. However, the team sharpened its focus, coach Vincent Collet made some crucial changes in the lineup.
The rest is history. The team rebounded spectacularly with an unexpected 82-73 victory over Canada in the Quarter-Finals and then a 73-69 revenge triumph over Germany in the Semi-Finals.
Before their title showdown with USA, Batum then spoke honestly in Court of Gold about the country's expectations for the national team.
"When you are at home, the crowd won't hate you if you lose fighting and giving up your life," he said. "If you get blown out, and didn't show up, then they have every right to kill you."
France did give everything in the Final and trailed by just three points with a Victor Wembanyama put-back dunk just 3:04 from the end.
Seventeen seconds later, Steph Curry sank the first of four consecutive daggers from three that would seal the deal for USA. On the last one, the golden dagger, Batum was right there in the front row.
A second straight silver medal wasn't what Batum and all of France had wanted from a second straight Olympic Gold Medal Game showdown with the USA, yet in his press after the game the player said: "Did you see us last week? We were in a really bad shape. It was a weird tournament for us, but to be in this position, it's amazing."
Batum deserved a lot of the credit for helping his national team turn things around one last time.
A standout in France's youth teams, he graduated to the senior side in 2008 and played in his first EuroBasket game on September 7, 2009, scoring 12 points in 32 minutes of Les Bleus' 70-65 win over Germany.
He would become a linchpin in the national team, winning FIBA EuroBasket 2013, claiming Olympic silver in Tokyo in 2021 after a decisive last second block against Slovenia in the Semi-Final and reaching the podium six times in all - before playing in a second straight Olympic Gold Medal Game last summer.
The high-flying Batum was an All-Star Five selection at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, when he led the French to the podium. He was also in the France side that beat the USA in the Quarter-Finals of the 2019 World Cup before going on to finish third.
He has announced right after Paris 2024 that he retired from the national team.
FIBA