Kevin Durant Rumors: Team USA Confident NBA Star Will Play in Olympics Amid Injury

USA Basketball officials remain confident Kevin Durant will be able to represent his country at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, according to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.

Spears reported Durant won’t play in Wednesday’s exhibition against Canada and that his status for the United States’ next two games is murky as well. The 14-time All-Star is battling a calf injury he picked up prior to reporting for national team duty.

Team USA coach Steve Kerr downplayed the significance of the problem, saying last week that Durant is “day-to-day.”

“He’s assuring me that it’s not bad,” Kerr told reporters. “We’re just going to be really careful and smart and take it day by day and go from there.”

Still, the general uncertainty around Durant comes as Team USA already watched Kawhi Leonard remove himself from the squad only weeks out from the Olympics. The Los Angeles Clippers star saw his NBA playoff run curtailed due to knee inflammation, so his withdrawal didn’t come as a huge shock.

It’s not as though the United States is lacking in star power, even with Leonard’s removal. LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum are among the headliners on Team USA.

Durant will nonetheless be critical in the U.S.’s efforts in earning a fifth straight gold medal.

The 6’11” forward remains a singular scorer for a player of his size. He averaged 27.1 points on 52.3 percent shooting, including 41.3 percent on threes for the Phoenix Suns in 2023-24.

Durant has excelled on the international stage as well. He put up 20.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest across the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the last three Olympics.

That probably leads Kerr and his staff to believe Durant can seamlessly fit into the current team when he’s healthy enough to go despite missing some valuable tune-ups prior to the Paris Games.