Kevin Durant likely to play for the US in the opening match of the Olympic Games against Serbia
Hopefully, Kerr said. Durant was on the court for practice, while presumed starting center Joel Embiid was not due to illness | Image: X/@brasilcoast2
There is hope that Kevin Durant will play for the U.S. in Sunday’s Olympic opening match against Serbia, meaning the men’s national team could have 12 players available for the first time this summer. Unless something else happens.
The Americans open the way to what they hope will be their fifth straight Olympic gold medal when they take on three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and World Cup finalist Serbia in the opening game for both teams at the Paris Olympics.
Durant missed all five of the U.S.’s practice games leading up to Paris with a calf injury. Coach Steve Kerr also declined to say Saturday whether he would be in the squad for the season opener.
Hopefully, Kerr said, Durant was on the court for practice, while presumed starting center Joel Embiid was not due to illness.
Kerr said he did not expect Embiid to miss Sunday’s game. “I’m confident we’ll have everybody ready tomorrow,” Kerr said.
There have been signs in recent days that USA Basketball expects Durant, a three-time gold medalist and now the first player to say he’s a four-time Olympic men’s basketball champion, to be ready.
First, it didn’t replace him on the roster. Second, clips were released from a Thursday exhibition game in which Durant was active and even had a reverse dunk (plus he was dunked by Anthony Edwards, who idolizes him). And third, Kerr insisted earlier in the week that he wasn’t worried about Durant’s status.
“We’ll see how it goes in practice today,” Kerr said Saturday. “So far so good. He came through the scrimmage two days ago pretty well.
The team gathered for its first summer workout in Las Vegas on July 6, about a week and a half after Durant sprained his calf.
He couldn’t train there and didn’t play in the first practice match against Canada before the Americans left for their overseas leg of the pre-Olympic tour. After that, it was a waiting game.
Durant played in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and also missed two friendlies against Serbia and Australia.
He did more work in London, but also missed the two exhibition games the US played there against South Sudan and Germany. He said he made the best of the situation.
“It’s unbelievable,” Durant said. “I mean, I haven’t played yet, but just being on the sideline, on the bench, I have more energy than I’ve had in the past. I hate not playing, but just watching these guys, the way they operate, it’s just unbelievable.”
Durant was also incredible at the Olympic level.
Before Durant came on the scene, Adrian Dantley had the highest scoring average for an American male player at an Olympic tournament, averaging 19.3 points during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
That now ranks him fourth on the U.S. Olympic list, behind Durant’s 20.7 points per game during the Tokyo Games three years ago, Durant’s 19.5 points per game during the 2012 London Games and Durant’s 19.4 points per game during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
He has scored 435 points in the Olympics, the most in U.S. men’s history, 99 more than Carmelo Anthony. He is third in rebounds for the U.S. men with 118, seven behind Anthony and six behind David Robinson.
He is the all-time leader in three-pointers made for the U.S. men at the Olympics with 74 and the all-time leader in free throws made with 69.
Immediate impact. Immediate impact, said US forward LeBron James when asked what Durant would add to the mix when he returns.
He looked extremely good the other day in training, and of course his wind, his rhythm, will continue to come, but to get him back has a huge impact on our club.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s this: The U.S. is 21-1 at the Olympics with Durant on the roster, and he won two NBA championships with Kerr during their three seasons with the Golden State Warriors.
I know how hard he works because I’ve seen it up close the last three years, and I know the level he’s trying to reach competitively to be the best he can be and why he’s the all-time leading scorer in (U.S.) Olympic history, said Warriors guard and debuting Olympian Stephen Curry.
You thrive on that preparation that gives you the confidence to say, Hey, we’re here to do business, but we’re also here to continue to learn from each other.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: Jul 27, 2024 | 9:49 PM IST