BEHIND A HEAVILY fortified fence, menacing security dogs and multiple metal detectors, a trio of players blissfully trained together, ate together, played cards, puffed cigars and swapped dreams.
The luxury liner Silver Cloud, a 514-foot cruise ship, was docked at Pier Maua in Rio de Janeiro. In it resided Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, members of the U.S. 2016 Olympic basketball team.
It was a union that was years in the making.
Durant and Jordan had struck up a relationship when Durant tried, in vain, to recruit the big man to Texas in 2007.