Kevin Durant was a star on both Team USA’s 2012 and 2016 gold medal teams, but the 6-10 star from the Brooklyn Nets were never a lock to be part of the men’s senior team after two compacted NBA seasons.
But this team’s most talented and accomplished player ultimately committed to play in these summer games at Tokyo, bolstering Team USA’s chances of winning a gold medal after a disappointing seventh place finish in the 2019 World Championships in China.
That’s a sigh of relief you heard coming from national team coach Gregg Popovich.
Team USA cannot win without him.
“Well, first of all, if he said No, I would have begged, cried, anything I could do to change his mind,” Popovich said after the American’s first practice Tuesday. ‘That’s pretty obvious. But what it says about him, No. 1, is that he loves the game. He really loves to play basketball. He loves to win. he loves the camaraderie. He wants to be part of this all the time, as we all know. And that’s his motivation to the core. Luckily for us, that’s who he is.”
Durant has never lost a FIBA event and an Olympic game. He is 39-0, winning golds in the 2010 World Championships and two Olympics and is ranked No. 1 in U.S. Olympic points per game (19.4) and made three pointers (59).
Durant is one of just four players– Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and David Robinson– to compete in three or more Olympics.
Durant is coming off a season in which the injury plagued Nets pushed eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to seven games in the Eastern Division finals. “No moral victories” he said. “You play to be the last team standing in the NBA finals.” Durant scored 48 points 53 minutes during a 115-111 loss in Game 7 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The last time a U.S. national team played in Japan in 2006, the young Americans– with James, Anthony and Dwyane Wade– lost to Greece in the semi-finals of the World Championships and finished with a bronze medal.
Team USA has been preparing to the games without three players– guard Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, forward Khris Middleton and guard Jrue Holiday of the Bucks– who were participating in finals. All three are expected to be in Japan for Team USA’s opening game against France Sunday.
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Guard Sue Bird, a 40-year old international veteran attempting to win an historic fifth gold medal, will be one of two USA athletes along with baseball player Eddy Alvarez, selected to be a flag bearer carry the flag in Friday’s Olympic opening ceremonies at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Bird and Alvarez were chosen by a vote of fellow Team USA athletes.
After making her Olympic debut in Athens in 2004, Bird has gone on to win four-straight gold medals. Adding to her impressive resume, Bird is a four-time WNBA champion, five time Euro League champion and two-time NCAA champion at Connecticut. “It’s an incredible honor,” Bird said. “I know what it means because I got to witness Dawn Staley a three-time gold medalist and the current Team USA women’s basketball coach) go through it when she was selected in 2004. It will last forever. This is about all the players who came before me and set the tone for what the USA Basketball women’s team is now, and also the players I’ve been fortunate enough to play with.”
