Lily Zhang and three teammates from the United States table tennis team were hanging out on a large boat last Friday, making small talk with the N.B.A. star Stephen Curry — as one does at an Olympic opening ceremony — when he asked what sport they played. Moments later, the four table tennis players found themselves engaged in a brief but spirited debate with Curry and his teammate Anthony Edwards about whether Edwards, one of basketball’s brightest young talents, could notch a point against them on the table. On one hand, the table tennis players said, it was one of those extraordinary, and extraordinarily funny, interactions that can happen only at the Olympics. On the other hand, they said, they have interactions like this all the time.

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Persons: Lily Zhang, Stephen Curry —, ” Curry, Curry, Anthony Edwards, Edwards Locations: United States