Follow our Olympics coverage in the run up to the Paris Games.
LONDON — Team USA’s Olympic exhibition season is over and Kevin Durant didn’t play, but he’s not going home like Kawhi Leonard.
He’s heading to Paris with the hopes of helping the U.S. team win a fifth consecutive gold medal.
“We’re not looking at replacing Kevin,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr acknowledged after his team beat Germany 92-88 on Monday without Durant.
Durant missed five USA scrimmages and most of the team’s practices after suffering a Grade 1 strain in his left calf during a workout before the start of training camp, requested an MRI after arriving in Las Vegas and wasn’t able to return to practice until the team gathered for its first workout in London on Friday.
U.S. coaching and executives are viewing Durant’s status as “day-to-day” and questioning whether he will be able to play in Sunday’s Olympic opener against Serbia.
“I spoke with him today and he said he’s feeling good,” Kerr said Monday night. “I’m hopeful that he can continue to have a couple of practices and scrimmages and come through and play for us.”
Get the latest sports news delivered to your inbox every day for free. Sign up
Get the latest sports news delivered to your inbox every day for free. Sign up
buy
During camp, USA officials left Leonard off the team despite his desire to play. They felt he wasn’t moving quickly enough in practices and scrimmages, though he was healthy enough to participate in practices and scrimmages. Derrick White replaced Leonard. With Durant out, at least, Kerr is relying on White defensively. White outscored Tyrese Haliburton in the rotation during the second half of the close win over South Sudan and the entire game against Germany.
The U.S. has until Friday to make any changes. If Durant isn’t removed by then and his calf injury isn’t fully recovered enough to play, they’ll have just 11 players available for the Olympics. But at this point in the summer, most NBA players who didn’t make the Olympic team have already moved on to their next teams. The time to replace Durant with someone like White, who could join the team and contribute immediately, was much earlier in the preseason.
Durant wasn’t yet healthy enough to play, and he hadn’t had time to bond with Kerr’s starters and reserves. When the team left Las Vegas for Abu Dhabi, the hope was that Durant would practice and maybe play. When that didn’t happen, Team USA was hopeful that Durant would take the court against Germany or South Sudan, but that didn’t happen either.
The U.S. is betting on Durant. Even if he isn’t ready for Sunday’s game, he should be ready by the time the U.S. advances to the Olympic finals. The U.S. would rather have Durant in those games than any other player, as he is the team’s all-time leading scorer and averages more than 29 points per game in the finals.
They strongly believe he is worth the gamble.
“Kevin Durant,” Jrue Holiday said. “What are you talking about? We need him.”
In Durant’s absence, Kerr has beefed up the rotation, with Devin Booker and Holiday starting on the wings with Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards coming off the bench at those positions. Still, USA officials worry about the challenge of maintaining the continuity established by the other 11 players and utilizing Durant, who remains one of the NBA’s best players.
LeBron James is Team USA’s leading scorer, averaging 14.6 points per game. Edwards has been effective in a hybrid role, averaging 13 points per game. Stephen Curry is in his usual form, averaging 12.4 points per game and a team-high 14 three-pointers on 38% 3-point attempts. Statistically, both Booker and Tatum have performed at a role-player level (Booker averaged 7.2 points per 20 minutes, while Tatum averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per 20 minutes).
The plan is for Durant to be ready when he is, but adding him to the rotation would likely mean reduced playing time for Booker and Tatum, which could potentially take either of them out of Kerr’s rotation.
Kerr didn’t flinch when asked if he had any concerns about chemistry or rhythm with Durant missing the entire preseason, saying he previously managed Durant’s infamous calf injury while working with him alongside the Golden State Warriors and expects similar results.
“When he was out, he came right back and was himself,” Kerr said. “He’s one of the greats of all time, so we’re hoping he’ll be back soon and I think he’ll gel with the team right away.”
Durant was running up and down the court in warmups before the game against Germany. His cardio, landing, cutting and jumping are improving every day. But this will be his first time on the court in uniform since April, when the Phoenix Suns were eliminated from the playoffs. That means it’s hard to predict how close he’ll be to his best when his name is called.
That version, the best version, is a strong defender who can score well, throw smart passes, spread the floor wide and add a shot-blocker to the starting lineup, but anything less would be good for the U.S. His mere presence would put pressure on the defense and maybe create more space for James, Curry and Joel Embiid (averaging 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds).
That’s not to say Booker or Tatum are bad players — they’re two of the best players in the NBA — but having to choose between James, Curry, Durant and Embiid to guard, and the pressure of having to make that choice feels like it will give the Americans their best chance at a gold medal.
If he does, it will be Durant’s fourth Olympic title — no men’s basketball player has ever won four Olympic gold medals.
Another reason to keep him around for a while.
Going deeper
On Team USA, Kevin Durant is a mentor to Anthony Edwards, just like Kobe was before him.
(Top photo of Kevin Durant by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)